Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Increases Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 342,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,778 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $49,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 149.3% in the third quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 14,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,391,000 after purchasing an additional 8,420 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 5.4% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,270,000 after purchasing an additional 14,593 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 80.3% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,757 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,359,000 after purchasing an additional 8,799 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 8.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 412,821 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $70,179,000 after purchasing an additional 33,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 8,503 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE ALB opened at $112.15 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.69 and a 1-year high of $247.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $123.05 and a 200-day moving average of $129.47. The firm has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a PE ratio of 8.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.62 EPS. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 11.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on ALB shares. Mizuho reduced their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Vertical Research cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.05.

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.