Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 7,114 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Cetera Investment Advisers trimmed its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 14.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 41,422 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 7,114 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. First Community Trust NA bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 610.0% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Baird R W cut Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.60.

Albemarle Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of ALB opened at $101.89 on Thursday. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $71.97 and a 52-week high of $177.52. The business’s fifty day moving average is $87.53 and its 200-day moving average is $104.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm has a market cap of $11.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.05, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The company’s revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

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.