KCM Investment Advisors LLC Has $460,000 Stake in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

KCM Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 19.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,342 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,824 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,903,000. PGGM Investments boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 90.4% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,052,000 after acquiring an additional 507,975 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $26,836,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 valued at $110,814,000 after purchasing an additional 343,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 55.4% during the second quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 959,978 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $60,162,000 after purchasing an additional 342,321 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Albemarle from $78.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Baird R W downgraded Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised their target price on Albemarle from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.74.

Albemarle Trading Up 6.4%

Shares of ALB opened at $97.08 on Monday. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $88.11 and a 200 day moving average of $74.48. The firm has a market cap of $11.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.42 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.55) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -101.89%.

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.