Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Demars Financial Group LLC

Demars Financial Group LLC lowered its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 58.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,604 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 5,136 shares during the quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 201.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,724 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 2,490 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 83,351 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,043,000 after buying an additional 5,416 shares in the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $3,175,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $415,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 351,123 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $50,730,000 after purchasing an additional 121,172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $114.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $122.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.45. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.69 and a fifty-two week high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.62 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ALB. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Bank of America raised shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

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.