Moody National Bank Trust Division Buys 216 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 7.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,034 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $597,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its holdings in Albemarle by 430.7% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 43,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,230,000 after acquiring an additional 34,994 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Albemarle by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 190,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $25,100,000 after acquiring an additional 35,003 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Down 4.8 %

ALB stock traded down $3.99 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.53. 3,699,661 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,092,533. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.16. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $79.46 and a 1-year high of $203.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $7.33 earnings per share. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.91%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.37.

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.