Dover Advisors LLC Sells 3,726 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Dover Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 49.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,839 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,726 shares during the period. Dover Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,230,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $379,352,000 after buying an additional 131,930 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,570,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $267,117,000 after purchasing an additional 146,450 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,555,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $224,802,000 after purchasing an additional 174,391 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,221,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $207,749,000 after purchasing an additional 151,158 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,188,914 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $202,163,000 after purchasing an additional 35,019 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB traded up $1.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $116.88. 1,723,562 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,343,544. The company has a market cap of $13.74 billion, a PE ratio of 8.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $122.79 and a 200 day moving average of $127.50. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $106.69 and a 52-week high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. 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. Vertical Research downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

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.