California State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 195,600 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,945 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $51,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brinker Capital Investments LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle in the third quarter worth $261,000. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.0% during the third quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 450,215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $119,055,000 after buying an additional 4,675 shares during the period. Gofen & Glossberg LLC IL acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter worth $250,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 400.0% during the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 750 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $157,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter worth $223,000. 82.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $325.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Piper Jaffray Companies started coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $497.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $303.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In related news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.49, for a total transaction of $106,539.33. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,203 shares in the company, valued at $19,213,614.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 7,836 shares of company stock valued at $1,917,699 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $214.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.40, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $254.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $262.98. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $185.15 and a 1-year high of $334.55.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $8.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.46 by $0.16. Albemarle had a net margin of 36.75% and a return on equity of 37.63%. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 193.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 30.2 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 16th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is 6.92%.

About Albemarle

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Albemarle Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop production, food-safety, and custom chemistry services. It operates through the following business segments: Lithium, Bromine, Catalysts, and All Other.