Centricity Wealth Management LLC Buys New Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 450 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at about $692,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $375,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 213.1% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,918 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 1,986 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Greenleaf Trust grew its position in Albemarle by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,802 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $550,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.68.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Albemarle Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $81.26 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $143.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.26, a PEG ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $86.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.05.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. Equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.45 earnings per share for the current 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.