Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 41.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,621 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 1,065 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $597,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 239.7% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,138,000 after purchasing an additional 37,958 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Albemarle by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 190,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $25,100,000 after purchasing an additional 35,003 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. Finally, Commerce Bank grew its holdings in Albemarle by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after buying an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ALB. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Baird R W lowered shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Down 3.7 %

ALB opened at $86.03 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $177.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $86.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.72. The company has a market cap of $10.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results 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). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $7.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.91%.

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.