Bcwm LLC Has $3.97 Million Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Bcwm LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 3.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 1,504 shares during the quarter. Bcwm LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. First Community Trust NA bought a new position in Albemarle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 610.0% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2,942.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Corp IN acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ALB. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:ALB opened at $87.44 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.80, a P/E/G ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $188.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $87.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.05.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.33 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

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.