CX Institutional Boosts Stake in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

CX Institutional boosted its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 33.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,723 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 436 shares during the quarter. CX Institutional’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 10.7% in the first quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 50,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 4,872 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 243,036 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $17,503,000 after buying an additional 12,014 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter worth $271,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 184,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,282,000 after buying an additional 6,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at $303,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Baird R W cut Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Mizuho set a $76.00 price objective on Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $74.00 target price on Albemarle and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $85.83.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of ALB stock opened at $81.69 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $78.38 and a 200 day moving average of $68.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Albemarle Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $113.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of -8.77 and a beta of 1.65.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The business’s revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.04 earnings per share. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -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.