B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 354 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 354 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in Albemarle by 0.5% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 0.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 14,874 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,568,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $149,833,000 after acquiring an additional 144,705 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Albemarle by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,311,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $125,264,000 after acquiring an additional 29,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 11.9% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.74.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $88.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a PE ratio of -5.29 and a beta of 1.56. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $71.97 and a 52-week high of $153.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.18.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

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

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.