Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $395,000 Position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 18.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,211 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 243,036 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $17,503,000 after acquiring an additional 12,014 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at $271,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Albemarle by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 184,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $13,282,000 after purchasing an additional 6,487 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 2,151.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 60,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,234,000 after purchasing an additional 58,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at $303,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.06.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $82.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.82 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $69.53 and a 200 day moving average of $67.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.04 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -17.38%.

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.