Public Sector Pension Investment Board Buys 1,854 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 70.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 1,854 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $430,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Albemarle by 879,311.8% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 149,500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $14,280,000 after purchasing an additional 149,483 shares during the period. Greenline Partners LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Greenline Partners LLC now owns 47,816 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,658,000 after purchasing an additional 4,176 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,568,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $149,833,000 after purchasing an additional 144,705 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 735,382 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $70,244,000 after purchasing an additional 46,287 shares during the period. Finally, Symmetry Investments LP bought a new stake in Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.2 %

ALB opened at $94.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.29, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $177.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.06.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company 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 company’s revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ALB. KeyCorp cut their price target on Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Baird R W cut Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup cut their price target on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

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.