Hahn Capital Management LLC Sells 23,035 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Hahn Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 98.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 342 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 23,035 shares during the quarter. Hahn Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $33,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,083,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,034,787,000 after purchasing an additional 82,874 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Albemarle by 128.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,022,420,000 after acquiring an additional 3,979,885 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Albemarle by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $838,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396,624 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $749,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,476,674 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $502,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Down 6.9 %

Shares of ALB opened at $76.90 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $89.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.51. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $189.19. The company has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. Albemarle’s revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on ALB. Citigroup dropped their price target on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Baird R W cut shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

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.