City Holding Co. Grows Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

City Holding Co. grew its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,960 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $255,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in Albemarle by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,833,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $363,117,000 after acquiring an additional 20,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $258,797,000 after purchasing an additional 14,874 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 2.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,311,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $125,264,000 after purchasing an additional 29,721 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,198,730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $114,503,000 after purchasing an additional 127,615 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $96,660,000 after buying an additional 282,194 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ALB shares. Mizuho dropped their target price on Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Clarkson Capital began coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.65.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.4 %

NYSE ALB opened at $97.52 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $143.19. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.80. The firm has a market cap of $11.46 billion, a PE ratio of -5.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.58.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -9.67%.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

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.