PFG Investments LLC Raises Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

PFG Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 40.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 753 shares during the quarter. PFG Investments LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at about $142,000. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 155,523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $21,801,000 after acquiring an additional 13,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ALB shares. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $145.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $87.44 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.67. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $188.47. The company has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a P/E/G ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.91%.

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.