Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Shares Bought by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,777 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $992,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth about $491,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Albemarle by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 8,882 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 4,247 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,816,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 48.3% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,477 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the period. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth about $86,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ALB. UBS Group cut their price target on Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Albemarle to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.62.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $63.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $58.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.74 and a beta of 1.61. Albemarle Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.92% and a negative net margin of 22.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.57%.

Albemarle Company Profile

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.