Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Purchased by FLC Capital Advisors

FLC Capital Advisors boosted its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 21.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 727 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors’ holdings in Albemarle were worth $600,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 worth $22,664,050,000 after purchasing an additional 104,426,113 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 142.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,043,861 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $177,499,000 after acquiring an additional 612,963 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,157,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,265,928,000 after acquiring an additional 575,007 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 45.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,378,866 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $299,021,000 after acquiring an additional 432,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,802,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE ALB traded up $9.78 on Wednesday, reaching $128.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,721,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,469,465. The firm has a market cap of $15.12 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $120.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.19. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $106.69 and a 52 week high of $247.44. 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 (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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 3.37 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ALB shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Albemarle in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $176.70.

Albemarle Company 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.