Albemarle Corporation $ALB Stock: Nvwm LLC Grows Stake

Nvwm LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 105,300.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,265 shares during the quarter. Nvwm LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new stake in Albemarle during the second quarter valued at approximately $358,101,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the second quarter valued at approximately $131,049,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the second quarter valued at approximately $103,268,000. Nykredit A S bought a new position in Albemarle in the second quarter worth approximately $78,121,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Albemarle in the first quarter worth approximately $94,815,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ALB. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Mizuho upgraded Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Albemarle from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.74.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $98.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Albemarle Corporation has a 12 month low of $88.01 and a 12 month high of $221.00. The stock has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 363.92, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $120.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.07.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 3.09% and a return on equity of 10.96%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4050. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 607.41%.

Albemarle Profile

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and markets materials used in energy storage, transportation, consumer products and industrial applications. The company is best known for its lithium business, which supplies lithium compounds used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics and energy-storage systems.

Albemarle also produces bromine-based specialty chemicals used in areas such as fire safety, water treatment, pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industrial processes.