The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price is declining on the last day of trading before the Easter break.
Pilbara shares fell 5% at yesterday's close to $3.545. Pilbara shares have since recovered some of those gains and are now down 3.62% to $3.595.
For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is down 0.76% today.
What's going on?
Pilbara is not the only ASX lithium stock in the red today. Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) shares are descending 3.57%, while Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE) shares are shedding 5.26%.
ASX lithium shares including Pilbara appear to be sliding after US lithium stocks fell overnight.
Lithium giant Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) tumbled 6.14%, while Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM) slid 1.76%.
As my Foolish colleague James noted this morning, Bank of America securities analysts downgraded Albemarle to underperform and slashed the price target on its shares by 25% to US$195.
Falling lithium prices were the main reason for this downgrade, with the broker noting "the negative earnings revisions are forthcoming".
The Lithium Carbonate Index (battery grade) has fallen 3.42% in a day to US$34,139.67 on the Shanghai Metals Market.
Meanwhile, analysts at Macquarie have recently placed a buy rating on Pilbara shares with a $7.70 price target. This implies an upside of 114% based on Pilbara's current share price.
Macquarie analysts remain positive on Pilbara's earning potential, despite the recent lithium price falls.
Macquarie is forecasting Pilbara to delve out a fully franked dividend per share of 41 cents in FY23 and 30 cents in FY24.
Pilbara Minerals share price snapshot
The Pilbara Minerals share price has climbed 7.31% in the last year.
This ASX lithium share has a market capitalisation of about $10.8 billion based on the current share price.
