Albemarle Corporation $ALB Stake Reduced by Grandfield & Dodd LLC

Grandfield & Dodd LLC trimmed its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 1.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 251,355 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,828 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $20,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $138,723,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $179,870,000 after acquiring an additional 937,538 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 22,047.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 713,812 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,613,000 after acquiring an additional 710,589 shares in the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter worth $32,903,000. Finally, PGGM Investments grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 90.4% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,052,000 after acquiring an additional 507,975 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ALB shares. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on Albemarle from $75.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $145.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $159.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $152.48.

Albemarle Stock Up 4.4%

Albemarle stock opened at $187.97 on Friday. Albemarle Corporation has a twelve month low of $49.43 and a twelve month high of $189.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.27. The firm has a market cap of $22.12 billion, a PE ratio of -118.22, a P/E/G ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $142.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.14.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 0.43% and a positive return on equity of 0.10%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.55) EPS. Albemarle’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -101.89%.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.