Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Makes New $46,000 Investment in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 320 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 21,400.0% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 147.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 262 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE ALB traded up $1.88 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $114.17. The company had a trading volume of 1,779,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,273,945. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.42 billion, a PE ratio of 8.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.69 and a twelve month high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $122.93 and its 200-day moving average is $128.45.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The business’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Vertical Research lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.05.

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.