Moser Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 250 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Moser Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 250.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 350 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $51,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter worth about $25,000. USCF Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new stake in Albemarle in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 21,400.0% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ALB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Bank of America upgraded Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.05.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.2 %

ALB stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $130.26. 174,664 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,159,089. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.42, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.65. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $106.69 and a 1 year high of $247.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.93.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The company’s revenue was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $10.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 2.86 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.18%.

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.