Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 361 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,425 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 361 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Albemarle by 128.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 176.6% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,588,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $209,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,662,117 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 31.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. TFG Asset Management GP Ltd raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 8,068.3% during the 4th quarter. TFG Asset Management GP Ltd now owns 400,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 395,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $49,007,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a research report 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, Berenberg Bank lowered Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Price Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $90.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 32.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $177.52. 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 fifty day moving average price is $86.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.33 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. 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.