SFE Investment Counsel Has $288,000 Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

SFE Investment Counsel reduced its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 26.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,020 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,075 shares during the quarter. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,720,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 45.0% in the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Albemarle by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 257 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,655 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ALB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. UBS Group cut their target price on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. HSBC downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Trading Down 6.9 %

NYSE ALB opened at $76.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.55. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $189.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is 58.91%.

Albemarle Company 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.