Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases Shares of 5,565 Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,565 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ALB. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 14.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 165,074 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,384,000 after buying an additional 21,257 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $267,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 11.4% during the second quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 866,575 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,308,000 after buying an additional 88,457 shares in the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 45.3% during the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 42,895 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,478,000 after buying an additional 13,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 6.0% in the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 835,806 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $52,380,000 after acquiring an additional 47,200 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Albemarle from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $87.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.75.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $173.75 on Friday. Albemarle Corporation has a twelve month low of $49.43 and a twelve month high of $179.14. The company has a market cap of $20.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -109.28, a PEG ratio of 6.78 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $135.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

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

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -101.89%.

About Albemarle

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.