Signature Resources Capital Management LLC Takes $259,000 Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,795 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $361,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Albemarle by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $414,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in Albemarle by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 38,666 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,586,000 after acquiring an additional 3,114 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 176,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,525,000 after acquiring an additional 12,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGT Group Foundation lifted its position in Albemarle by 179.5% during the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 29,636 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,429,000 after acquiring an additional 19,033 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.85.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALB traded up $2.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $128.10. The company had a trading volume of 2,600,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,691,240. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.23. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.69 and a fifty-two week high of $247.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.09). Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $10.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently 58.18%.

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.