Albemarle Co. Forecasted to Earn Q3 2024 Earnings of $0.36 Per Share (NYSE:ALB)

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) – Investment analysts at Scotiabank issued their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for Albemarle in a research report issued on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank analyst B. Isaacson expects that the specialty chemicals company will post earnings per share of $0.36 for the quarter. Scotiabank currently has a “Sector Perform” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Albemarle’s current full-year earnings is $1.67 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for Albemarle’s FY2024 earnings at $3.10 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.70 EPS.

ALB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.11.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB traded down $0.18 on Thursday, reaching $81.65. 2,165,826 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,089,660. The stock has a market cap of $9.60 billion, a PE ratio of 29.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $79.00 and a twelve month high of $203.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $97.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.33 earnings per share.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.91%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total transaction of $194,950.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at $626,882.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. USCF Advisers LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Albemarle by 2,942.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, First Financial Corp IN purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Energy Storage, Specialties and Ketjen. The Energy Storage segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride; technical services for the handling and use of reactive lithium products; and lithium-containing by-products recycling services.