Signaturefd LLC Acquires 8,456 Shares of Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 598.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,869 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 8,456 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the second quarter valued at about $358,101,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 78.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 730,745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $131,191,000 after acquiring an additional 321,400 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter worth about $131,049,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 652,674 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $117,178,000 after purchasing an additional 4,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 40.5% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 827,874 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $111,784,000 after purchasing an additional 238,774 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $99.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.86. Albemarle Corporation has a 52 week low of $88.01 and a 52 week high of $221.00.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Investors of record on Friday, December 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 18th. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on Albemarle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Albemarle from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Argus cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $230.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Albemarle from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $175.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $179.41.

Albemarle Profile

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company develops, manufactures, and markets engineered chemicals used in energy storage, transportation, refining, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, consumer products, and other industrial applications.

Albemarle is one of the world’s major producers of lithium and supplies lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, for use in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid energy-storage systems.