PGGM Investments Buys 115,081 Shares of Albemarle Corporation $ALB

PGGM Investments increased its stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,185,005 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 115,081 shares during the period. Albemarle makes up 1.6% of PGGM Investments’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. PGGM Investments owned 1.01% of Albemarle worth $96,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 165,074 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,384,000 after purchasing an additional 21,257 shares in the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in Albemarle during the second quarter valued at about $267,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 11.4% in the second quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 866,575 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,308,000 after buying an additional 88,457 shares in the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Albemarle by 45.3% in the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 42,895 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,478,000 after buying an additional 13,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 6.0% in the second quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 835,806 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $52,380,000 after buying an additional 47,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. Zacks Research upgraded Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial set a $125.00 price target on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on Albemarle from $135.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.75.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $173.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -109.28, a P/E/G ratio of 6.78 and a beta of 1.41. Albemarle Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.43 and a 52-week high of $179.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $135.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.41.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 0.43% and a positive return on equity of 0.10%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.55) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently -101.89%.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.