Dover Advisors LLC Sells 3,726 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Dover Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 49.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,839 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,726 shares during the period. Dover Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,352,000 after purchasing an additional 131,930 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,570,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $267,117,000 after purchasing an additional 146,450 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 12.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 174,391 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 151,158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,188,914 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $202,163,000 after purchasing an additional 35,019 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Stock Up 1.7 %

ALB stock traded up $1.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $116.88. 1,723,562 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,343,544. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.76, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $106.69 and a 1 year high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. Albemarle’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $8.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 11.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Vertical Research lowered 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. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

About Albemarle

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.