Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 12,219 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 176,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,219 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $25,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Eagle Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 149.3% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 14,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,391,000 after purchasing an additional 8,420 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Albemarle by 5.4% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,270,000 after acquiring an additional 14,593 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its stake in Albemarle by 430.7% during the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 43,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,230,000 after acquiring an additional 34,994 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 80.3% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,757 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,359,000 after acquiring an additional 8,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 412,821 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $70,179,000 after purchasing an additional 33,662 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Vertical Research downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.85.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE ALB opened at $128.10 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $106.69 and a one year high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The business’s revenue was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.32 EPS. Research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.18%.

Albemarle Company 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.