Everence Capital Management Inc. Invests $363,000 in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,510 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Fairfield Bush & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 15.0% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 5,565 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 17.5% in the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 186.4% in the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,898 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.0% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,943,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 8.0% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 3,859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of 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. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.05.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $111.77 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $123.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $129.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $13.14 billion, a PE ratio of 8.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $106.69 and a 1 year high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.62 EPS. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 11.99%.

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.