D.B. Root & Company LLC Takes $245,000 Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

D.B. Root & Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,848 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ALB. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,660,000 after purchasing an additional 282,194 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 28.7% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 705,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,839,000 after purchasing an additional 157,319 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC grew its stake in 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 increased its holdings in Albemarle by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 521,537 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,395,000 after buying an additional 127,549 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $40,067,000 after buying an additional 93,718 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.65.

Albemarle Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $90.34 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.39, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.58. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $143.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.44. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.74.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -9.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.