Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Grows Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 29.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 37,540 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 8,618 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. First Community Trust NA purchased a new position in Albemarle in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 610.0% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2,942.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Corp IN acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ALB. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Trading Down 3.6 %

NYSE ALB opened at $86.57 on Thursday. The company has a market cap 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $87.52 and a 200-day moving average of $107.34.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.91%.

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.