Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Purchased by Gold Investment Management Ltd.

Gold Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,258 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 176.6% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,588,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $209,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,662,117 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 9,108.7% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 574,805 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,440,000 after buying an additional 568,563 shares during the period. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in Albemarle in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,007,000. PGGM Investments lifted its stake in Albemarle by 261.6% in the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 413,492 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,473,000 after acquiring an additional 299,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 115.7% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 542,200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,791,000 after acquiring an additional 290,862 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ALB. HSBC cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

Albemarle Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:ALB traded down $1.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $98.84. The stock had a trading volume of 176,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,957,729. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.56. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $153.54. The company has a market capitalization of $11.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.13 and a beta of 1.55.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.55) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($1.24). The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. Equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -34.25%.

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.