Assetmark Inc. Increases Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 248.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 689 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Albemarle during the second quarter worth approximately $32,903,000. PGGM Investments grew its holdings in Albemarle by 90.4% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $67,052,000 after buying an additional 507,975 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter worth $26,836,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $110,814,000 after acquiring an additional 343,210 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 55.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 959,978 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $60,162,000 after acquiring an additional 342,321 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $78.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $105.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Albemarle from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.71.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $103.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.13 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $88.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.13. Albemarle Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.55) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is -101.89%.

Albemarle Company 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.