Veritable L.P. Has $620,000 Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Veritable L.P. raised its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 10.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,779 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 261 shares during the quarter. Veritable L.P.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,156 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC now owns 122,897 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,417,000 after purchasing an additional 22,211 shares in the last quarter. Kerntke Otto McGlone Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $215,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 728,231 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $162,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 212,954 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $47,508,000 after purchasing an additional 23,463 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ALB shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $265.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $265.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Albemarle from $212.00 to $163.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Albemarle from $260.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 7th. Four equities 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $228.50.

Albemarle Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of ALB opened at $127.41 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $150.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.15. The company has a market cap of $14.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.52, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.67. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $112.00 and a 52-week high of $293.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.81.

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

Albemarle Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

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

About Albemarle

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.