GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 5,863 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 40.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,634 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 5,863 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 239.7% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,138,000 after acquiring an additional 37,958 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 22.5% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 35,003 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 392.6% during the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 7,916 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 6,309 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 32.4% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 521,537 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,395,000 after acquiring an additional 127,549 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle during the first quarter valued at about $202,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Berenberg Bank lowered Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.30.

Albemarle Price Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $93.51 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $10.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.59. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $153.54. 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 (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 posted $7.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.