Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Purchased by Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 21.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,216 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 239.7% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,138,000 after acquiring an additional 37,958 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 22.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 190,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,100,000 after acquiring an additional 35,003 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its position in Albemarle by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $88.54 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.67. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $188.47. The firm has a market cap of $10.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a P/E/G ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.54.

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

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is 58.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ALB. Baird R W lowered Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. HSBC lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

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.