Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,107 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 399 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 45.0% during the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,655 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. grew its stake in Albemarle by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 3,047 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Albemarle by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,309 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $568,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 3.5% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,186 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ALB shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company 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 issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.30.

Albemarle Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $98.24 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $153.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $92.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.94. The stock has a market cap of $11.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.77 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -34.25%.

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.