Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.41 Per Share

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 16th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.405 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Albemarle has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 29 consecutive years. Albemarle has a dividend payout ratio of 23.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Albemarle to earn $5.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.9%.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE:ALB traded up $2.22 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.71. 2,584,694 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,084,517. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $112.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.50. The company has a market cap of $11.48 billion, a PE ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.57. Albemarle has a 12-month low of $90.32 and a 12-month high of $239.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. Albemarle’s revenue was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $10.32 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Albemarle will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Albemarle news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total value 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 approximately $626,882.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total transaction of $194,950.75. Following the completion of the sale, 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on ALB shares. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $159.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $122.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.32.

Albemarle Company Profile

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.