How to buy Albemarle Corporation stock | 128.92

Albemarle Corporation is a specialty chemicals business based in the US. Albemarle Corporation shares (ALB) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Albemarle Corporation employs 6,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$3.2 billion.

How to buy shares in Albemarle Corporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Albemarle Corporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: ALB. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Albemarle Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$128.92, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Albemarle Corporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Albemarle Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted Albemarle Corporation's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Albemarle Corporation's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was USD$128.92, which is 28.30% up on its pre-crash value of USD$92.43 and 163.69% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$48.8901.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of Albemarle Corporation shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$630.14 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$1,596.03.

Albemarle Corporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of ALB stocks over time.

Albemarle Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-11-24.

Latest market close	USD$128.92
52-week range	USD$48.474 - USD$137.71
50-day moving average	USD$104.5164
200-day moving average	USD$88.7581
Wall St. target price	USD$97.75
PE ratio	35.0418
Dividend yield	USD$1.54 (1.15%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$3.59

Buy Albemarle Corporation shares from these brokerages

Compare special offers, low fees and a wide range of types of investments among top trading platforms.

Is it a good time to buy Albemarle Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Albemarle Corporation by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Albemarle Corporation price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $128.92 from 2020-11-16

1 week (2020-11-24)	-6.08%
1 month (2020-10-30)	38.31%
3 months (2020-09-01)	32.37%
6 months (2020-06-01)	66.52%

1 year (2019-11-29)	97.19%
2 years (2018-11-30)	33.85%
3 years (2017-12-01)	-2.44%
5 years (2015-12-01)	143.47%

Is Albemarle Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing Albemarle Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Albemarle Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Albemarle Corporation's P/E ratio

Albemarle Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 35x. In other words, Albemarle Corporation shares trade at around 35x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Albemarle Corporation's PEG ratio

Albemarle Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.5319. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Albemarle Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Albemarle Corporation's EBITDA

Albemarle Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$853.4 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Albemarle Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Albemarle Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	USD$3.2 billion
Operating margin TTM	19.32%
Gross profit TTM	USD$1.3 billion
Return on assets TTM	4.26%
Return on equity TTM	10.82%
Profit margin	11.77%
Book value	$38.747
Market capitalisation	USD$14.6 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Albemarle Corporation shares

There are currently 8.0 million Albemarle Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as Albemarle Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 3.4% down from 8.3 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Albemarle Corporation shares can be evaluated.

Albemarle Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Albemarle Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Albemarle Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Albemarle Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 991216.76942047). Albemarle Corporation's SIR currently stands at 8.11. In other words for every 100,000 Albemarle Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 8110 shares are currently held short.

However Albemarle Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Albemarle Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable Albemarle Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Albemarle Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.08% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Albemarle Corporation shares in existence, roughly 80 shares are currently held short) or 0.0864% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Albemarle Corporation shares, roughly 86 shares are currently held short).

A SIR below 10% would generally be considered to indicate a fairly optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Albemarle Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short Albemarle Corporation stock.

Albemarle Corporation's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Albemarle Corporation.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Albemarle Corporation's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 41.74

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Albemarle Corporation's overall score of 41.74 (as at 01/01/2019) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 84th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Albemarle Corporation is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Albemarle Corporation's environmental score

Environmental score: 21.59/100

Albemarle Corporation's environmental score of 21.59 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Albemarle Corporation is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Albemarle Corporation's social score

Social score: 15.41/100

Albemarle Corporation's social score of 15.41 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Albemarle Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Albemarle Corporation's governance score

Governance score: 13.74/100

Albemarle Corporation's governance score puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Albemarle Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Albemarle Corporation's controversy score

Controversy score: 1/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Albemarle Corporation scored a 1 out of 5 for controversy – the highest score possible, reflecting that Albemarle Corporation has managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Albemarle Corporation was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	41.74
Total ESG percentile	84.08
Environmental score	21.59
Environmental score percentile	7
Social score	15.41
Social score percentile	7
Governance score	13.74
Governance score percentile	7
Level of controversy	1

Albemarle Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 32.91% of net profits

Recently Albemarle Corporation has paid out, on average, around 32.91% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 1.15% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Albemarle Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 1.15% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Albemarle Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $1.54 per share.

While Albemarle Corporation's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Albemarle Corporation may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

Albemarle Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 4 January 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 10 December 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Albemarle Corporation's shares ever split?

Albemarle Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 2 March 2007. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Albemarle Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Albemarle Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted Albemarle Corporation's share price.

Albemarle Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Albemarle Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $48.474 up to $137.71. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Albemarle Corporation's is 1.3067. This would suggest that Albemarle Corporation's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Albemarle Corporation overview

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Lithium, Bromine Specialties, and Catalysts. The Lithium segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, and value-added lithium specialties, as well as reagents, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride for applications in lithium batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles, high performance greases, thermoplastic elastomers for car tires, rubber soles, plastic bottles, catalysts for chemical reactions, organic synthesis processes, life science, pharmaceutical, and other markets. It also offers cesium products for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries; zirconium, barium, and titanium products for various pyrotechnical applications; technical services, such as the handling and use of reactive lithium products; and recycling services for lithium-containing by-products. The Bromine Specialties segment offers bromine and bromine-based solutions for fire safety, chemical synthesis, mercury control, water purification, beef and poultry processing, and other industrial applications, as well as oil and gas well drilling, and completion fluids applications; and tertiary amines, biocides, disinfectants, and sanitizers. The Catalysts segment offers hydroprocessing catalysts together with isomerization and akylation catalysts; fluidized catalytic cracking catalysts and additives; and performance catalyst solutions comprising organometallics and curatives. The company serves energy storage, petroleum refining, consumer electronics, construction, automotive, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, and custom chemistry services markets. Albemarle Corporation was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Albemarle Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.394% of Albemarle Corporation shares are held by insiders and 90.003% by institutions.

• How many people work for Albemarle Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 6,000 work at Albemarle Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for Albemarle Corporation?

  Albemarle Corporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Albemarle Corporation based?

  Albemarle Corporation's address is: 4250 Congress Street, Charlotte, NC, United States, 28209

• What is Albemarle Corporation's ISIN number?

  Albemarle Corporation's international securities identification number is: US0126531013

• What is Albemarle Corporation's CUSIP number?

  Albemarle Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 012653101