Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Acquired by TAP Consulting LLC

TAP Consulting LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,654 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,007 shares during the quarter. TAP Consulting LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. MONECO Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased 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 during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Albemarle by 22.5% during 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 increased its holdings in Albemarle by 10.2% during 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 increased 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 worth $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ALB shares. Baird R W downgraded Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. HSBC cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Berenberg Bank cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE ALB traded down $5.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $76.90. The stock had a trading volume of 3,495,879 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,070,142. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $71.97 and a 52-week high of $189.19. The company has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is 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.