AMF Tjanstepension AB Grows Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 204.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,212 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,907 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 19.8% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 29,129 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,759,000 after acquiring an additional 4,813 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.8% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 43,996 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,167,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 41.1% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,845 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,311,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 135,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,804,000 after acquiring an additional 4,131 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI lowered Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.05.

Albemarle Stock Down 1.2 %

ALB stock opened at $75.57 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $67.23 and a 12 month high of $137.50. The firm has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of -6.75 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. Equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.46%.

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.