GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 820 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,497 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 820 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Albemarle by 128.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,022,420,000 after buying an additional 3,979,885 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 176.6% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,588,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $209,333,000 after acquiring an additional 3,662,117 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $377,341,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $749,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in Albemarle by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $838,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396,624 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Baird R W cut shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $87.44 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $71.97 and a 52-week high of $188.47. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $87.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.80, a P/E/G ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly 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). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. 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.