CreativeOne Wealth LLC Raises Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 23.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,508 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 480 shares during the quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Payden & Rygel Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth about $184,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Albemarle by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 121,421 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $15,996,000 after purchasing an additional 19,557 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 116.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,759 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Albemarle by 544.9% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 9,151 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 7,732 shares during the period. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 50.9% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,313 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $173,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total value of $194,950.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at $626,882.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total transaction of $194,950.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at $626,882.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,875.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Albemarle from $122.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America raised Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $137.00 to $156.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.65.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB traded up $1.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $92.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,868,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,707,672. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $90.02 and a twelve month high of $215.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.57. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.83.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $10.32 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.18%.

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.