Picton Mahoney Asset Management Purchases New Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 2,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $404,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eagle Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 149.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 14,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,391,000 after acquiring an additional 8,420 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,270,000 after buying an additional 14,593 shares during the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 430.7% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 43,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,230,000 after acquiring an additional 34,994 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 80.3% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,757 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,359,000 after acquiring an additional 8,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 8.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 412,821 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $70,179,000 after acquiring an additional 33,662 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ALB. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America upgraded Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Vertical Research lowered Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.05.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $130.40 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.84. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.69 and a fifty-two week high of $247.44. The firm has a market cap of $15.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $123.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.93.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.18%.

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.