WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Purchases 18,239 Shares of Albemarle Corporation $ALB

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 36.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 68,565 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,239 shares during the period. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $4,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% in the first quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 243,036 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $17,503,000 after acquiring an additional 12,014 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth approximately $271,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 184,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,282,000 after acquiring an additional 6,487 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth approximately $303,000. Finally, Bard Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the second quarter worth approximately $1,850,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Stock Up 2.1%

ALB opened at $98.27 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.54 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $83.11 and its 200 day moving average is $69.80. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.94. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -17.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.32.

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.