Primecap Management Co. CA Has $364.22 Million Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,813,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,970 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $364,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 239.7% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,138,000 after buying an additional 37,958 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 35,003 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Berenberg Bank cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE ALB opened at $89.35 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $87.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a PE ratio of 32.49, a PEG ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $183.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.43 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.33 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. 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 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.91%.

Albemarle Company 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.