Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by SFE Investment Counsel

SFE Investment Counsel cut its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 20.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 615 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new stake in Albemarle in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 610.0% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Albemarle during the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 61.9% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 387 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Albemarle from $85.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.30.

Albemarle Stock Up 5.0 %

Shares of ALB opened at $98.15 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $11.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $91.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.36. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $153.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $7.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.91%.

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.