Affinity Investment Advisors LLC Sells 4,137 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Affinity Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 70.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,137 shares during the quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Strategies LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 149.3% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 14,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,391,000 after purchasing an additional 8,420 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,270,000 after purchasing an additional 14,593 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its stake in Albemarle by 430.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 80.3% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Albemarle by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 412,821 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $70,179,000 after acquiring an additional 33,662 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In other news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total transaction of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares in the company, valued at $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total transaction of $194,950.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at $626,882.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ALB. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $165.16.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB stock traded down $1.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $125.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,570,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,081,919. The company has a 50 day moving average of $124.31 and a 200 day moving average of $125.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $14.71 billion, a PE ratio of 46.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.65. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.69 and a 12-month high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $10.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

Albemarle 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.