OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Raises Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,881 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 612,963 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 432,155 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth $75,802,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 15,046.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 345,467 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $113.79. The stock had a trading volume of 670,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,303,417. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.69 and a 12-month high of $247.44. The company has a market cap of $13.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.95. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.05.

Albemarle 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.