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

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 19,653 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ALB. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at $223,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter valued at about $392,000. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 64.1% in the second quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 4,457 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $426,000 after buying an additional 1,741 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 182.5% during the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 36,384 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,475,000 after buying an additional 23,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 40.0% during the second quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Down 6.9 %

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $76.90 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $189.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $89.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.51. The company has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.33 EPS. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ALB. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Company 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.