Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) is USCF Advisers LLC’s 4th Largest Position

USCF Advisers LLC lifted its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Albemarle accounts for about 7.3% of USCF Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. USCF Advisers LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 142.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,043,861 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $177,499,000 after buying an additional 612,963 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 15,046.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 347,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $502,450,000 after purchasing an additional 345,467 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Albemarle by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,555,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $224,802,000 after purchasing an additional 174,391 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 14.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,221,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $207,749,000 after purchasing an additional 151,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 10.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,570,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $267,117,000 after purchasing an additional 146,450 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ALB shares. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of ALB traded up $1.73 on Friday, hitting $116.71. 642,283 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,205,318. The company has a market capitalization of $13.72 billion, a PE ratio of 8.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.27. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $106.69 and a one year high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.99%.

Albemarle Profile

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.