Albemarle Corporation $ALB Shares Acquired by Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 14.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 74.5% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the first quarter worth $36,000. Evermay Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 84.1% in the first quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 670 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 54.4% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 727 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Albemarle in the second quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $92.75 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.95 and a beta of 1.65. Albemarle Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.43 and a 1 year high of $113.91. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.11.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.04 earnings per share. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently -17.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ALB. Zacks Research upgraded Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Albemarle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.41.

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.