Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA Boosts Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 430.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,994 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $6,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,352,000 after buying an additional 131,930 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,570,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $267,117,000 after purchasing an additional 146,450 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,555,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $224,802,000 after purchasing an additional 174,391 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,221,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $207,749,000 after purchasing an additional 151,158 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,188,914 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $202,163,000 after purchasing an additional 35,019 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Three equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB traded up $2.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $117.21. 901,127 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,208,726. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.62, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $106.69 and a 52-week high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $122.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.27.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. Albemarle’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.99%.

Albemarle Company Profile

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.