Czech National Bank Has $3.10 Million Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,890 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. lifted its position in Albemarle by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 5,565 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in Albemarle by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $968,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in Albemarle by 186.4% during the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,898 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in Albemarle by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,943,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Albemarle by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 3,859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $853,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ALB. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $275.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 1st. HSBC cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $360.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $270.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $260.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.76.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $181.62 on Tuesday. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $171.82 and a 52-week high of $334.55. The stock has a market cap of $21.31 billion, a PE ratio of 5.46, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $201.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.86.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.27 by $3.06. Albemarle had a net margin of 40.55% and a return on equity of 45.88%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 60.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 26.09 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is 4.81%.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Lithium, Bromine, and Catalysts. The Lithium segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, and lithium specialties and reagents, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride for use in lithium batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles, high performance greases, thermoplastic elastomers for car tires, rubber soles, plastic bottles, catalysts for chemical reactions, organic synthesis processes in the areas of steroid chemistry and vitamins, life sciences, pharmaceutical industry, and other markets.