Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Invests $375,000 in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,957 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $375,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. First Community Trust NA purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 610.0% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 2,142.1% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.30.

Albemarle Trading Up 5.0 %

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $98.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $11.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.69, a P/E/G ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.36. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $153.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its 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 analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

About Albemarle

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.