Albemarle Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.41 (NYSE:ALB)

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.405 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Albemarle has increased its dividend by an average of 1.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. Albemarle has a payout ratio of 77.9% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings decline. Equities 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

ALB stock traded down $7.10 on Monday, hitting $69.93. 5,047,365 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,569,989. Albemarle has a 1-year low of $69.81 and a 1-year high of $140.22. The stock has a market cap of $8.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.24 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $85.10 and a 200-day moving average of $92.19. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. On average, analysts forecast that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.68.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.