Venturi Wealth Management LLC Buys 1,563 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 369.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 1,563 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $171,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 1,400.0% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its position in Albemarle by 606.5% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Albemarle in the third quarter worth $31,000. First Community Trust NA increased its position in Albemarle by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ALB shares. Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.68.

Albemarle Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of ALB opened at $81.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.26, a P/E/G ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 1.59. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $143.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.05.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. Equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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.