AIA Group Ltd Grows Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

AIA Group Ltd grew its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,292 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ALB. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 124,405.7% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 104,510,053 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $22,664,050,000 after purchasing an additional 104,426,113 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 142.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,043,861 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $177,499,000 after buying an additional 612,963 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,378,866 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $299,021,000 after buying an additional 432,155 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at $75,802,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 15,046.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 347,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $502,450,000 after acquiring an additional 345,467 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho dropped their price target on Albemarle from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen downgraded Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Bank of America upgraded Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $112.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.62. The business’s 50 day moving average is $123.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.69 and a 12-month high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.62 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

About Albemarle

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.