Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 3.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,820 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 566 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Albemarle in the first quarter valued at $25,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 610.0% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2,942.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Corp IN acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ALB. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Trading Up 9.9 %

NYSE:ALB opened at $95.17 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $177.52. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.98. 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 stock has a market cap of $11.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently 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.