Mather Group LLC. Acquires New Shares in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 922 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 10,742 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,827,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Albemarle by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 13,561 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,369,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Pearl River Capital LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle during the 3rd quarter worth $405,000. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 5,498 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $935,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP lifted its position in Albemarle by 228.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 9,539 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,622,000 after acquiring an additional 6,632 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ALB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $157.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Vertical Research lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $165.11.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total value of $194,950.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $626,882.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Albemarle news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total value of $194,950.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $626,882.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total transaction of $114,251.79. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares in the company, valued at $921,875.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $93.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $11.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.09, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of $120.62 and a 200-day moving average of $124.86. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $93.73 and a 1-year high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 2.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

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.