Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Has $2.85 Million Stock Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. raised its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 22.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,289 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,268 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,672,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,056,697,000 after acquiring an additional 77,773 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,954,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $184,782,000 after purchasing an additional 59,104 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 48.5% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $179,870,000 after buying an additional 937,538 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Albemarle by 28.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $110,814,000 after buying an additional 343,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,072,921 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,272,000 after buying an additional 31,951 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Albemarle from $85.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. HSBC upped their price target on Albemarle from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Albemarle from $87.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Albemarle from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.38.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:ALB opened at $115.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $119.28. The company has a market cap of $13.55 billion, a PE ratio of -12.35 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $90.95 and a 200-day moving average of $76.28.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.55) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -101.89%.

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.