Vest Financial LLC Buys 127,549 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 32.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 521,537 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 127,549 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC owned approximately 0.44% of Albemarle worth $49,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 7.1% in the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 113,346 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $10,735,000 after purchasing an additional 7,530 shares in the last quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Meridian Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $799,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 10,682 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Berenberg Bank downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.60.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE ALB traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $95.14. The company had a trading volume of 2,082,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,026,809. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $153.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $89.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.90. The stock has a market cap of $11.18 billion, a PE ratio of 34.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released 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). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

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.