Old West Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Old West Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 17,545 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,510,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $85,570,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter valued at $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 359,014 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $102,653,000 after acquiring an additional 320,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $62,333,000 after acquiring an additional 264,756 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB opened at $58.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of -5.23 and a beta of 1.59. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $57.53 and a 1 year high of $137.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is -14.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ALB shares. Mizuho cut their price target on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.30.

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.