WINTON GROUP Ltd Purchases 17,467 Shares of Albemarle Corporation $ALB

WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALBFree Report) by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 95,264 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,467 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $13,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC now owns 5,769 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,592 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 782 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 2,423 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ALB. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $195.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.04.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Albemarle

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 16,393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.72, for a total transaction of $3,011,721.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 87,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,078,990.68. The trade was a 15.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Down 6.0%

Shares of ALB opened at $155.73 on Friday. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $55.90 and a one year high of $221.00. The company has a market cap of $18.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.76.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALBGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $1.71. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 5.00% and a positive return on equity of 5.22%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.18) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post 12.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently -47.51%.

Albemarle Profile

(Free Report)

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

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