Capital Investment Advisors LLC Grows Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,848 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ALB. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Albemarle by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 865,408 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $191,386,000 after purchasing an additional 217,538 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 71.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 488,490 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $129,176,000 after buying an additional 203,385 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 86.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 375,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $99,257,000 after buying an additional 173,996 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,933,369 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,684,541,000 after buying an additional 158,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,247,801 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $275,952,000 after buying an additional 155,848 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ALB. Mizuho increased their target price on Albemarle from $325.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. CICC Research began coverage on Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Loop Capital increased their target price on Albemarle from $397.00 to $403.00 in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Albemarle from $497.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Albemarle from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $308.00.

Albemarle Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of ALB opened at $208.49 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $185.15 and a 52-week high of $334.55. The company has a market capitalization of $24.44 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $254.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $262.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $8.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.46 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.60 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 37.63% and a net margin of 36.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 193.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 30.2 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 16th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.49, for a total transaction of $106,539.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,213,614.47. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,836 shares of company stock valued at $1,917,699. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Albemarle Profile

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Albemarle Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop production, food-safety, and custom chemistry services. It operates through the following business segments: Lithium, Bromine, Catalysts, and All Other.