Huntington National Bank Acquires 821 Shares of Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 77.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,886 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 821 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $118,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 10.7% during the first quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 50,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,624,000 after buying an additional 4,872 shares in the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 243,036 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $17,503,000 after acquiring an additional 12,014 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at about $271,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 184,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $13,282,000 after acquiring an additional 6,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bard Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Albemarle in the second quarter valued at about $1,850,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on ALB shares. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $78.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Albemarle from $74.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Dbs Bank boosted their price target on Albemarle from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Albemarle from $105.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.74.

Albemarle Stock Up 6.4%

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $97.08 on Friday. Albemarle Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $113.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $11.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.42 and a beta of 1.70.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.55) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -101.89%.

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.