Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Stock Holdings Lifted by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 36.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,947 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,188 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2,942.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 100.8% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB stock opened at $87.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.80, a P/E/G ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.05. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $188.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $7.33 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ALB shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.10.

Albemarle 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.