Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,855 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,814 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,954,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $184,782,000 after buying an additional 59,104 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 48.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 937,538 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 90.4% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $67,052,000 after acquiring an additional 507,975 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 55.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 959,978 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,162,000 after purchasing an additional 342,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 866,575 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,308,000 after purchasing an additional 88,457 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Dbs Bank increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Albemarle from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $120.21.

Albemarle Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of ALB stock opened at $145.85 on Monday. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $149.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -91.73 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $113.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.27.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 0.43% and a positive return on equity of 0.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($1.55) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -101.89%.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.