Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Raises Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 0.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 62,148 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,895,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,672,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,056,697,000 after buying an additional 77,773 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $110,814,000 after buying an additional 343,210 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $77,272,000 after buying an additional 31,951 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 90.4% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,052,000 after buying an additional 507,975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 55.4% in the second quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 959,978 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,162,000 after buying an additional 342,321 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ALB. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Albemarle from $80.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. HSBC upped their price target on Albemarle from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 target price (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.41.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $96.11 on Tuesday. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $113.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. The stock has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a PE ratio of -10.31 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $84.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.37.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.