Traders Purchase Large Volume of Albemarle Put Options (NYSE:ALB)

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 32,597 put options on the company. This is an increase of 156% compared to the average volume of 12,738 put options.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,296.64. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,833,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $363,117,000 after acquiring an additional 20,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $258,797,000 after buying an additional 14,874 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 10.2% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,568,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $149,833,000 after buying an additional 144,705 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,311,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $125,264,000 after buying an additional 29,721 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 11.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,198,730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $114,503,000 after acquiring an additional 127,615 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ALB. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.74.

Albemarle Trading Down 1.0 %

ALB stock opened at $88.29 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.27 and a beta of 1.56. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $151.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a fifty day moving average of $100.40 and a 200-day moving average of $95.00.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.67%.

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.