PFG Investments LLC Makes New $405,000 Investment in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

PFG Investments LLC bought a new position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,991 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $405,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at $138,723,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 48.5% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $179,870,000 after acquiring an additional 937,538 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 22,047.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 713,812 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,613,000 after acquiring an additional 710,589 shares in the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Albemarle during the second quarter worth about $32,903,000. Finally, PGGM Investments boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 90.4% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,052,000 after purchasing an additional 507,975 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $118.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $207.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Albemarle from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.04.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of ALB stock opened at $194.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a market cap of $22.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -122.23, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 1.41. Albemarle Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.43 and a 1 year high of $195.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $146.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.17.

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

Albemarle Profile

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.