Signaturefd LLC Grows Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 38.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,082 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 6.3% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,352,000 after buying an additional 131,930 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 10.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,570,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $267,117,000 after buying an additional 146,450 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,555,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $224,802,000 after buying an additional 174,391 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 14.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,221,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $207,749,000 after buying an additional 151,158 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Albemarle by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,188,914 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $202,163,000 after purchasing an additional 35,019 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen downgraded 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 report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB stock opened at $116.88 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.74 billion, a PE ratio of 8.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.69 and a 12-month 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.99%.

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.