Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 47.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,595 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,809 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $534,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. USCF Advisers LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Albemarle by 2,942.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, First Financial Corp IN acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB traded down $0.47 on Wednesday, hitting $79.06. 3,326,238 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,094,134. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $100.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $114.91. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $79.00 and a twelve month high of $203.62. The firm has a market cap of $9.29 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.33 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.91%.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Berenberg Bank downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.37.

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.