State of Alaska Department of Revenue Sells 260 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue reduced its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,402 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 260 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $692,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new position in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $76,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,817 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $172,000 after buying an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 156.7% in the 3rd quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $696,000 after buying an additional 4,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Touchstone Capital Inc. grew its stake in Albemarle by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Touchstone Capital Inc. now owns 55,111 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,220,000 after buying an additional 3,162 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ALB. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Clarkson Capital began coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,296.64. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $76.57 on Thursday. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $71.97 and a 52-week high of $143.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.44. The company has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a fifty day moving average of $90.00 and a 200-day moving average of $92.48.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 1.67% and a negative net margin of 28.80%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.