Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Bought by Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 18.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 612,998 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 97,000 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned approximately 0.52% of Albemarle worth $52,767,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ALB. Quarry LP increased its stake in Albemarle by 1,400.0% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Albemarle by 340.6% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in Albemarle by 606.5% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Community Trust NA grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.30.

Albemarle Trading Down 12.0 %

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $58.55 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $77.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.14. The company has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.23 and a beta of 1.59. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $57.53 and a 1 year high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.