Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Takes Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,012 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $992,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,105 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth $232,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 266.4% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 4,727 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $669,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at $381,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $200.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.24.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.1%

Albemarle stock opened at $179.33 on Monday. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $206.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $171.85 and its 200 day moving average is $135.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.14 billion, a PE ratio of -31.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.53) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 10.74% and a positive return on equity of 0.41%. Albemarle’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.09) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is -28.17%.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 11,783 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.81, for a total value of $2,012,654.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 134,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,995,808.68. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.