DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 1,003 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lessened its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,647 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,003 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MONECO Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 239.7% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,138,000 after purchasing an additional 37,958 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 22.5% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 35,003 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of ALB opened at $86.57 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.48, a P/E/G ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $182.25.

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 company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.