Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) to Issue $0.41 Quarterly Dividend

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.405 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%.

Albemarle has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. Albemarle has a dividend payout ratio of 74.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Albemarle to earn $1.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 84.8%.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock traded up $1.44 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $78.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,499,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,498,125. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $143.19. The business has a fifty day moving average of $85.92 and a 200-day moving average of $92.10. The stock has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.05 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ALB. Clarkson Capital began coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.68.

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.