USCF Advisers LLC Acquires 100 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

USCF Advisers LLC increased its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Albemarle comprises 7.3% of USCF Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. USCF Advisers LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $29,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Eagle Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 149.3% during the third quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 14,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,391,000 after buying an additional 8,420 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Albemarle by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,270,000 after purchasing an additional 14,593 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 80.3% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,757 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,359,000 after acquiring an additional 8,799 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 412,821 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $70,179,000 after purchasing an additional 33,662 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 235.9% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 12,107 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after acquiring an additional 8,503 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on ALB shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:ALB traded up $1.73 on Friday, hitting $116.71. 642,283 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,205,318. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $122.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.27. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $106.69 and a 52 week high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $13.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. Albemarle’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $8.62 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.