State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $4.11 Million Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 35.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,061 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 23,485 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $4,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 181.1% during the second quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 9,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $906,000 after purchasing an additional 6,110 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. VitalStone Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 35.4% during the second quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 5,773 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 4.7% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 21,315 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,036,000 after buying an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 21.1% during the second quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 3,216 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Up 2.2 %

Albemarle stock opened at $89.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a PE ratio of 32.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $183.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $87.53 and a 200-day moving average of $107.71.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its 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). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.405 per share. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio 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.