Albemarle Corporation $ALB Shares Sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 236,207 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,730 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Albemarle were worth $14,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 10,050.0% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 406 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 7,257.1% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 515 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in Albemarle by 74.5% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 248.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 689 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $130.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Albemarle Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.43 and a 12 month high of $130.56. The company has a market cap of $15.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.96 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.60.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.Albemarle’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.55) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is -101.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ALB. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Zacks Research lowered Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Rothschild Redb upgraded shares of Albemarle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.29.

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.