State of Michigan Retirement System Cuts Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 9.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,207 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,300 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Albemarle in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the second quarter worth $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 610.0% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2,942.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Corp IN purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.60.

Albemarle Stock Up 0.1 %

ALB opened at $89.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company has a market capitalization of $10.46 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $90.76 and its 200-day moving average is $111.24. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $203.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. Albemarle’s revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

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.