Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) saw a downside of -1.67% to close Monday at $196.75 after subtracting -$3.34 on the day. The 5-day average trading volume is 2,212,800 shares of the company’s common stock. It has gained $214.99 in the past week and touched a new high 2 times within the past 5 days. An average of 1,876,730 shares of the company has been traded in the last 20 days, and the 50-day average volume stands at 1,841,306.
ALB’s 1-month performance is -17.16% or -$40.77 on its low of $194.72 reached on 08/07/23. The company’s shares have touched a 52-week low of $171.82 and high of $334.55, with the stock’s rally to the 52-week high happening on 02/16/23. YTD, ALB has lost -9.27% or -$20.11 and has reached a new high 15 times. However, the current price is down -41.19% from the 52-week high price.
Insider Transactions
ALB stock investors last saw insider trading activity on May 10.Tozier Scott (EVP & CFO) most recently sold 5,700 shares at $251.40 per share on Mar 03. This transaction cost the insider $1,432,980. EVP & CFO, Tozier Scott, sold 417 shares at a price of $255.49 on Mar 01. Then, on Jan 06, EVP & CFO Tozier Scott sold 1,719 shares at a price of $220.00 per share. This transaction amounted to $378,180.
Valuation Metrics
ALB stock has a beta of 1.56. Moving on to other valuation ratios, the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is 2.62 while the price-to-book (PB) in the most recent quarter is 2.50, with the price to cash flow ratio at 49.81.
Albemarle Corporation’s quick ratio for the period ended June 29 was 1.00, with the current ratio over the same period at 1.90. As well, the company’s long term debt to equity for the quarter ending June 29 was 0.35, while the total debt to equity was 0.35. In terms of profitability, the gross margin trailing 12 months is 44.50%. The trailing 12-month EBITDA margin is 38.28% while for the period ending June 29, Albemarle Corporation’s operating margin was 28.10%. The firm’s gross profit as reported stood at $3.07 billion against revenue of $7.32 billion.
Earnings Surprise
For the quarterly period ending June 29 this year, Net income and sales went down compared to those figures reported in the previous quarter. Net income grew 37.42% to $650.04 million, while revenue of $1.24 billion was -90.54% off the previous quarter. Analysts expected ALB to announce $4.44 per share in earnings in its latest quarter, but it posted $7.33, representing a 65.10% surprise. EBITDA for the quarter stood at more than $233.08 million. ALB stock balance sheet for the quarter ending June 29 shows that total liabilities totaled 9.02 billion, with total debt at $3.66 billion. Shareholders hold equity totaling $117.35 million.
Let’s look briefly at Albemarle Corporation (ALB) price momentum from a technical analysis perspective. The 9-day relative strength index as at close on 07 August was 24.82% to suggest the stock is trending oversold, with historical volatility in this time period at 22.67%.
The stock’s 5-day moving average is $201.41, reflecting a -7.32% or -$15.53 change from its current price. ALB is currently trading -17.97% above its 20-day SMA, -12.70% above its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is away from the SMA50 by -7.29% and SMA200 by-21.82%.
Stochastic %K and %D was 3.07% and 3.48% and the average true range (ATR) pointed at 7.76. The RSI (14) points at 31.53%, while the 14-day stochastic is at 4.74% with the period’s ATR at 7.68. The stock’s 9-day MACD Oscillator is pointing at -6.09 and -11.15 on the 14-day charts.
Analyst Ratings
In the most recent analyst report for Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), Citigroup launched coverage with a Buy rating. Analysts offering their rating for ALB stock have a consensus rating for the stock as Overweight. Currently, 2 brokerage advisors rate ALB as a “sell,”, while 5 advise that investors “Hold.” 0 analysts have rated the stock as underweight. 3 rates the stock as overweight while 17 have offered a “buy” rating.
What is ALB’s price target for the next 12 months?
Analysts have a consensus price target ranging from a low of $155.00 and a high of $344.00, with their median price target at $269.27. Looking at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts is for Albemarle Corporation (ALB) stock is $262.82.
