Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Sells 896 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 10.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,393 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 896 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,083,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,034,787,000 after purchasing an additional 82,874 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Albemarle by 128.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,022,420,000 after acquiring an additional 3,979,885 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Albemarle by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $838,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396,624 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,813,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $364,223,000 after acquiring an additional 87,970 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 2,472,155 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $325,682,000 after purchasing an additional 116,284 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Albemarle Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $86.58 on Thursday. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $177.52. The company has a 50-day moving average of $86.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.06. The company has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.48, a P/E/G ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ALB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

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.