Albemarle Corporation $ALB Shares Sold by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio lessened its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 28.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 68,211 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 27,604 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $12,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Evexia Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 2.3% in the first quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 2,088 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC now owns 5,769 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $816,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,592 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $508,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Albemarle by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 782 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on Albemarle from $153.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $224.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.58.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $135.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.67, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.34. Albemarle Corporation has a twelve month low of $64.24 and a twelve month high of $221.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $170.05 and a 200 day moving average of $169.20.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $1.71. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 5.22% and a negative net margin of 5.00%.Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.18) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post 12.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -47.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 16,393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.72, for a total value of $3,011,721.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 87,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,078,990.68. The trade was a 15.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.