Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 3.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 689,927 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 23,618 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.59% of Albemarle worth $65,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Albemarle by 0.5% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 257 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 4.6% in the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,655 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster Group Inc. grew its holdings in Albemarle by 4.1% during the second quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 3,047 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $86.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.67. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $177.52. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.72.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $7.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ALB. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Baird R W lowered shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $102.00 to $85.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

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.