Short Interest in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Grows By 7.5%

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) saw a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,130,000 shares, a growth of 7.5% from the May 31st total of 15,940,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,700,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Albemarle news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total transaction of $194,950.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $626,882.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total transaction of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total value of $194,950.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $626,882.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 128.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,022,420,000 after acquiring an additional 3,979,885 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted 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 worth $209,333,000 after acquiring an additional 3,662,117 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $377,341,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $749,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,164 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $838,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396,624 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ALB. Citigroup lifted their price target on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $157.00 price target on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Bank of America raised shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.78.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $100.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.84. Albemarle has a 1 year low of $92.29 and a 1 year high of $247.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.41, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.57. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $10.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Albemarle will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

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.