PGGM Investments Boosts Stake in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

PGGM Investments raised its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 90.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 507,975 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Albemarle were worth $67,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Albemarle by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,672,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,056,697,000 after purchasing an additional 77,773 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Albemarle by 28.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $110,814,000 after purchasing an additional 343,210 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 17.4% in the first quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 1,167,520 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $84,085,000 after purchasing an additional 173,441 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Albemarle by 3.1% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,072,921 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,272,000 after purchasing an additional 31,951 shares during the period. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 4.9% in the first quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 778,118 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $56,040,000 after purchasing an additional 36,634 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ALB. Wall Street Zen upgraded Albemarle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Mizuho set a $76.00 price objective on Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $74.00 price objective on Albemarle and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Albemarle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $89.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $85.83.

Albemarle Trading Down 6.8%

ALB opened at $80.97 on Wednesday. Albemarle Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.43 and a 12 month high of $113.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.69 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $78.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.61.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -17.38%.

About Albemarle

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.