Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $1.08 Million Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 6,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,077,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. BOKF NA boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5,771.4% in the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 411 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 536.7% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 573 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 16,393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.72, for a total value of $3,011,721.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 87,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,078,990.68. This represents a 15.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price target on Albemarle from $188.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $170.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Vertical Research upgraded Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $224.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. HSBC upped their target price on Albemarle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.58.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $135.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.20. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $64.24 and a one year high of $221.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $1.71. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 5.00% and a positive return on equity of 5.22%. The company’s revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post 12.98 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -47.51%.

Albemarle Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.