Eastern Bank Purchases Shares of 330 Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 330 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 176.6% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,588,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $209,333,000 after buying an additional 3,662,117 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth $49,007,000. PGGM Investments lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 261.6% in the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 413,492 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,473,000 after buying an additional 299,148 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 115.7% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 542,200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,791,000 after buying an additional 290,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 22.9% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,423,897 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $187,584,000 after buying an additional 265,313 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE ALB opened at $93.51 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $91.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $10.99 billion, a PE ratio of 34.00, a PEG ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $153.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ALB. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.30.

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.