Sava Infond d.o.o. Boosts Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Sava Infond d.o.o. boosted its position in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 73.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 39,910 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,900 shares during the quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,355 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $977,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 6,393.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $10,975,000 after acquiring an additional 150,047 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Albemarle by 15.9% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 240,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $17,352,000 after acquiring an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 3.5% during the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 617,657 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,484,000 after acquiring an additional 21,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 21.9% during the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ALB shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Baird R W lowered shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $86.72.

Albemarle Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:ALB opened at $88.06 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.45 and a beta of 1.65. Albemarle Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $113.91. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $79.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.94. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.04 earnings per share. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -17.38%.

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.