Pathway Financial Advisers LLC Has $575,000 Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lowered its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 2.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,069 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 173 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $575,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 239.7% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 22.5% during the first 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 in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 392.6% during the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 7,916 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $756,000 after buying an additional 6,309 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 32.4% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 521,537 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,395,000 after buying an additional 127,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the first quarter worth $202,000. 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 analyst reports. 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 downgraded Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.30.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $95.52 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $11.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.81 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $92.04 and its 200-day moving average is $101.14. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $153.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The firm 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 for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -34.25%.

Albemarle 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.