Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. Has $129,000 Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. lessened its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 9.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,343 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the period. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Albemarle during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2,942.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. First Financial Corp IN bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 100.8% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ALB. Baird R W cut Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.60.

Albemarle Stock Up 4.2 %

NYSE:ALB opened at $90.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $203.62. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.64. The company has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.91%.

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.