9,273 Shares in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Acquired by Scientech Research LLC

Scientech Research LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,273 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2,942.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. First Financial Corp IN purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 100.8% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ALB. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. HSBC downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $96.05 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.78. The stock has a market cap of $11.29 billion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.54. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $177.52. 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 (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 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.