Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lessened its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 68.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,408 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 24,594 shares during the quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 176.6% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,588,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $209,333,000 after buying an additional 3,662,117 shares during the period. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,007,000. PGGM Investments increased its holdings in Albemarle by 261.6% in the 1st quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 413,492 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $54,473,000 after purchasing an additional 299,148 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 115.7% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 542,200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $51,791,000 after purchasing an additional 290,862 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 22.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,423,897 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $187,584,000 after purchasing an additional 265,313 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on ALB. Bank of America cut their price objective on Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.30.

Albemarle Stock Down 1.7 %

ALB opened at $93.51 on Monday. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $153.54. 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 capitalization of $10.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.59.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.33 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle 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.