Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $665,000 Stock Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,899 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 341 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 6,393.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $10,975,000 after buying an additional 150,047 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 15.9% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 240,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $17,352,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 617,657 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,484,000 after buying an additional 21,120 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 21.9% in the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epiq Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 11.7% in the first quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 25,933 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,868,000 after buying an additional 2,716 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ALB. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Albemarle from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Baird R W lowered Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $86.72.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of ALB stock opened at $88.06 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $79.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.84. The company has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of -9.45 and a beta of 1.65. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.94. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The company’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.04 EPS. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -17.38%.

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.