Abbington Investment Group Takes $333,000 Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Abbington Investment Group purchased a new stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,107 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $179,870,000 after purchasing an additional 937,538 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 22,047.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 713,812 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,613,000 after purchasing an additional 710,589 shares during the period. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the second quarter worth about $32,903,000. PGGM Investments boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 90.4% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,052,000 after buying an additional 507,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Albemarle during the second quarter worth about $29,482,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Albemarle from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on Albemarle from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 target price (up from $95.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $159.00 price target on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Albemarle from $100.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.28.

Albemarle Price Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $158.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -99.55, a P/E/G ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 1.41. Albemarle Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $164.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $127.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.58.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.55) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. 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.