Signaturefd LLC Decreases Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Signaturefd LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 932 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 256 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $89,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $597,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 239.7% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,138,000 after purchasing an additional 37,958 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Albemarle by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 190,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,100,000 after purchasing an additional 35,003 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its position in Albemarle by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Down 6.8 %

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $84.15 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.24. The stock has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.60, a P/E/G ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.57. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $203.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ALB. Baird R W cut shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. HSBC downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.10.

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.