Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Bought by WealthPLAN Partners LLC

WealthPLAN Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,619 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 450 shares during the quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 239.7% during the second 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 last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 22.5% during the first 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. MBB Public Markets I LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 392.6% in the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 7,916 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $756,000 after buying an additional 6,309 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 32.4% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 521,537 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,395,000 after acquiring an additional 127,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle in the first quarter valued at approximately $202,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Up 9.6 %

Shares of ALB opened at $110.49 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $153.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.60 and a beta of 1.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $93.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.24.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ALB. HSBC cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Berenberg Bank cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research note 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. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.58.

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.