Tredje AP fonden Decreases Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Tredje AP fonden lowered its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 145,356 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 507 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $13,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $597,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 239.7% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,138,000 after buying an additional 37,958 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 190,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,100,000 after acquiring an additional 35,003 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:ALB opened at $89.86 on Wednesday. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $183.50. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $87.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. 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 (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ALB. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $85.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

About Albemarle

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.