Excalibur Management Corp Purchases Shares of 2,598 Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Excalibur Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,598 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew 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 purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 100.8% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. HSBC cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $89.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $87.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $107.71. The firm has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.49, 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 $183.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

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

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

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.