Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Bought by Mackenzie Financial Corp

Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,166 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 21,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 147.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 262 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB opened at $115.27 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $13.55 billion, a PE ratio of 8.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $122.95 and a 200-day moving average of $128.36. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $106.69 and a 52-week high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released 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. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $8.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ALB. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Albemarle in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

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.