MBB Public Markets I LLC Buys 6,309 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

MBB Public Markets I LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 392.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,916 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,309 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $756,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Czech National Bank increased its position in Albemarle by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 45.0% in the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Foster Group Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 3.3% during the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,309 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on ALB. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Baird R W lowered shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of ALB opened at $94.35 on Wednesday. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $177.52. The firm has a market cap of $11.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.54. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $86.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The firm’s revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 EPS. On average, 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 was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 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.