Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 1,809 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 47.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,595 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,809 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marion Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 12.6% in the second quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 11,123 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after buying an additional 1,243 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,155 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 11.8% during the second quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 15,302 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,610 shares during the period. Finally, Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 211.4% during the second quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV now owns 8,361 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $822,000 after purchasing an additional 5,676 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho reduced their target price on Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.37.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:ALB traded down $0.47 on Wednesday, hitting $79.06. 3,326,238 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,094,134. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $100.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.91. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $79.00 and a 52 week high of $203.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The company has a market cap of $9.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.33 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $626,882.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Albemarle news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.