Korea Investment CORP Grows Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 100,478 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,935 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $8,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth about $85,570,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Albemarle by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after buying an additional 359,014 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 67.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 658,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,333,000 after buying an additional 264,756 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth $11,694,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 28.5% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,067,000 after acquiring an additional 93,718 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $72.15 on Tuesday. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.23 and a fifty-two week high of $137.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.44 and a beta of 1.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.76.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -14.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on ALB shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.30.

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.