Private Advisor Group LLC Grows Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 76.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,021 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 6,506 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 124,405.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 104,510,053 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $22,664,050,000 after buying an additional 104,426,113 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,661,001 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,021,130,000 after buying an additional 75,867 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,582,008 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,118,007,000 after buying an additional 260,087 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 93,459.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 8,086,363 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,803,987,000 after buying an additional 8,077,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Albemarle by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,364,655 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,188,408,000 after purchasing an additional 16,968 shares during the period. 84.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In other news, EVP Kristin M. Coleman acquired 1,373 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $121.86 per share, for a total transaction of $167,313.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,746 shares in the company, valued at $334,627.56. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Albemarle Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $130.36 on Tuesday. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $112.00 and a 12-month high of $293.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $149.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.62, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.67.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.96). Albemarle had a return on equity of 36.09% and a net margin of 33.63%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 21.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on ALB shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Albemarle from $295.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 8th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Albemarle from $225.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Piper Sandler cut Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $255.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Albemarle from $254.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Albemarle from $260.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $228.50.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Lithium, Bromine, and Catalysts. The Lithium segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, and lithium specialties and reagents, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride for use in lithium batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles, high performance greases, thermoplastic elastomers for car tires, rubber soles, plastic bottles, catalysts for chemical reactions, organic synthesis processes in the areas of steroid chemistry and vitamins, life sciences, pharmaceutical industry, and other markets.