PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Has $1.69 Million Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 17.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 26,922 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 4,067 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 77,773 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $179,870,000 after purchasing an additional 937,538 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Albemarle by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $110,814,000 after purchasing an additional 343,210 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 31,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments lifted its holdings 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 valued at $67,052,000 after purchasing an additional 507,975 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.6%

ALB opened at $125.81 on Thursday. Albemarle Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.43 and a 12 month high of $127.07. The company has a market cap of $14.81 billion, a PE ratio of -13.50 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $93.70 and a 200 day moving average of $77.46.

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

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -101.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ALB. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Albemarle from $105.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Rothschild Redb raised shares of Albemarle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.04.

Albemarle 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.