IFM Investors Pty Ltd Increases Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,758 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 223 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kingfisher Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Kingfisher Capital LLC now owns 14,117 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,401,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 14.1% in the third quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 688 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Patron Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 1,541 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Regatta Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ALB. Citigroup increased their price target on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America raised Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB traded up $1.90 on Friday, reaching $116.88. 1,723,562 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,343,544. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.69 and a fifty-two week high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $13.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $122.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.00.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The business’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $8.62 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 11.99%.

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.