Vontobel Holding Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 67.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,816 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 74,680 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $5,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 15.0% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 5,565 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 17.5% in the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $968,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 186.4% in the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,898 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 5.0% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,943,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 8.0% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 3,859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $853,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Vertical Research lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.05.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $114.39 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a PE ratio of 8.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $123.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $129.95. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.69 and a fifty-two week high of $247.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.99%.

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.