Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $5.32 Million Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lessened its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 67.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,816 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 74,680 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $5,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eagle Strategies LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 149.3% in the third quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 14,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,391,000 after purchasing an additional 8,420 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Albemarle by 5.4% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,270,000 after buying an additional 14,593 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 80.3% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,757 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,359,000 after buying an additional 8,799 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Albemarle by 8.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 412,821 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $70,179,000 after buying an additional 33,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in Albemarle by 235.9% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 12,107 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after buying an additional 8,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $114.39 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $123.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.95. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.69 and a fifty-two week high of $247.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.62 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Vertical Research cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.05.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Energy Storage, Specialties and Ketjen. The Energy Storage segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride; technical services for the handling and use of reactive lithium products; and lithium-containing by-products recycling services.