TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Trims Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. cut its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 93.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,197 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 42,791 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $201,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Friday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. Rothschild Redb raised shares of Albemarle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Dbs Bank lifted their price target on Albemarle from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.04.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB opened at $115.94 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $96.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.85. The stock has a market cap of $13.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.44 and a beta of 1.70. Albemarle Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $127.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.55) earnings per share. Albemarle’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is -101.89%.

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.