Tredje AP fonden Sells 507 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Tredje AP fonden reduced its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 145,356 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 507 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden owned 0.12% of Albemarle worth $13,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ALB. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 51.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in Albemarle by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 1,751 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at $377,341,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ALB. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $89.86 on Wednesday. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $183.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a PE ratio of 32.68, a P/E/G ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.71.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 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 firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.405 dividend. 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. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

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.