Thomist Capital Management LP Invests $1.65 Million in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Thomist Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 17,725 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,646,000. Albemarle accounts for about 0.6% of Thomist Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ALB. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Down 3.6 %

ALB stock opened at $86.57 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $182.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.17 billion, a PE ratio of 31.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $87.52 and a 200 day moving average of $107.34.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced 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 company 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%. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.91%.

About Albemarle

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.