Polianta Ltd Invests $993,000 in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Polianta Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 13,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $993,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 12.2% in the first quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,595 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at about $93,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 1,153.5% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 52,135 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,755,000 after purchasing an additional 47,976 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 84,162 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,061,000 after acquiring an additional 10,892 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $62.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a PE ratio of -5.58 and a beta of 1.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $57.86 and its 200-day moving average is $76.00. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -14.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ALB. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.62.

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.