Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,360 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its position in Albemarle by 142.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,043,861 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $177,499,000 after acquiring an additional 612,963 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 15,046.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 347,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $502,450,000 after purchasing an additional 345,467 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Albemarle by 4,471.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 332,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $47,982,000 after purchasing an additional 324,836 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Albemarle by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,555,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $224,802,000 after buying an additional 174,391 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,221,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $207,749,000 after buying an additional 151,158 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:ALB opened at $128.11 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.69 and a 12-month high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.65.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.32 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 2.88 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Albemarle in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Vertical Research lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.85.

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.