Excalibur Management Corp Acquires New Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Excalibur Management Corp bought a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,598 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Community Trust NA bought a new position in Albemarle during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 610.0% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Albemarle by 2,942.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Corp IN bought a new stake in Albemarle in the first quarter valued at $32,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $89.35 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $87.53 and a 200-day moving average of $107.71. The firm has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.03 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $183.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.33 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently 58.91%.

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.