Clarius Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Clarius Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 921 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 122 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 188.1% in the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 121 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 51.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. PrairieView Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 15,300.0% in the second quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 154 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 164 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, AllSquare Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 87.0% in the second quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC now owns 172 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 84.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kristin M. Coleman bought 1,373 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $121.86 per share, for a total transaction of $167,313.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $334,627.56. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on ALB. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $212.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 6th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $344.00 to $308.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $260.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 9th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $265.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $253.00 to $140.00 in a report on Monday, November 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $228.50.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $127.41 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $112.00 and a twelve month high of $293.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $150.71 and a 200-day moving average of $188.15. The firm has a market cap of $14.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.67.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.96). Albemarle had a net margin of 33.63% and a return on equity of 36.09%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 21.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 5.67%.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Lithium, Bromine, and Catalysts. The Lithium segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, and lithium specialties and reagents, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride for use in lithium batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles, high performance greases, thermoplastic elastomers for car tires, rubber soles, plastic bottles, catalysts for chemical reactions, organic synthesis processes in the areas of steroid chemistry and vitamins, life sciences, pharmaceutical industry, and other markets.