Fortem Financial Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Fortem Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,878 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 449 shares during the quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,660,000 after purchasing an additional 282,194 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 705,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,839,000 after purchasing an additional 157,319 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 392.6% in the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 7,916 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $756,000 after purchasing an additional 6,309 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 521,537 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,395,000 after purchasing an additional 127,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 67.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ALB shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.47.

Albemarle Trading Down 5.2 %

NYSE:ALB opened at $103.98 on Wednesday. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $153.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $101.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.13. The stock has a market cap of $12.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.21 and a beta of 1.56.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -9.67%.

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.