Albemarle Corporation $ALB Stake Boosted by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 243.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 155,693 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 110,326 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $16,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Albemarle by 2,981.1% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 733,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,621,000 after buying an additional 709,977 shares during the period. Revisor Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 29.7% in the third quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,519 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $372,000 after buying an additional 805 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1,565.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 59,451 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,289,000 after acquiring an additional 55,881 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 24,241 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,564,000 after acquiring an additional 3,322 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 358.7% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,073 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 7,095 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Albemarle from $225.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $230.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.00.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $94.39 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.72. The stock has a market cap of $11.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 349.62, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.36. Albemarle Corporation has a 1-year low of $88.01 and a 1-year high of $221.00. 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 (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.55. Albemarle had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 3.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Profile

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company develops, manufactures, and markets engineered chemicals used in energy storage, transportation, refining, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, consumer products, and other industrial applications.

Albemarle is one of the world’s major producers of lithium and supplies lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, for use in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid energy-storage systems.