7,100 Shares in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,026,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ALB. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in Albemarle during the third quarter worth $25,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new position in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 21,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 147.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 262 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ALB shares. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Bank of America upgraded Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen downgraded Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Mizuho cut their price target on Albemarle from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $115.27 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $13.55 billion, a PE ratio of 8.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $122.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.36. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.69 and a 12-month high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $8.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.99%.

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.