CreativeOne Wealth LLC Buys 480 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 23.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,508 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 39.8% during the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 6,089 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $880,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 235.9% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 12,107 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 8,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Realta Investment Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 35,079 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,068,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Berenberg Bank raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. HSBC lowered Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.65.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total transaction of $114,251.79. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total value of $194,950.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at $626,882.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Albemarle stock traded up $1.80 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $92.80. 1,868,593 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,707,672. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.84. The company has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a PE ratio of 33.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $105.63 and a 200-day moving average of $116.83. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $90.02 and a 12 month high of $215.82.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $10.32 EPS. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

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.