Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Buys Shares of 19,653 Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 19,653 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ALB. WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Albemarle during the first quarter worth about $25,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 610.0% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Albemarle by 2,942.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Corp IN bought a new stake in Albemarle in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Baird R W cut shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. HSBC lowered Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Trading Down 6.9 %

Albemarle stock opened at $76.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.14 and a 200-day moving average of $109.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $189.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently 58.91%.

Albemarle 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.