Forsta AP Fonden Sells 1,400 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 27,241 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,602,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 181.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 9,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $906,000 after buying an additional 6,110 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. VitalStone Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 35.4% in the second quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 5,773 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 4.7% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 21,315 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,036,000 after buying an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ALB. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America cut their price target on Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Berenberg Bank cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $89.35 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $87.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.71. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $183.50. The company has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a PE ratio of 32.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently 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.