Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases New Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 34,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,866,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. now owns 3,332 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 677 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 36.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 413 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 1.2% during the third quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 10,160 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Albemarle by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $140,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ALB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $195.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Albemarle from $109.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Berenberg Bank set a $153.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $145.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.24.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 11,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.81, for a total transaction of $2,012,654.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,628 shares in the company, valued at $22,995,808.68. This represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $179.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.19, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.23. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $206.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $171.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.78.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.53) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by ($0.13). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.41% and a negative net margin of 10.74%.The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.09) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -28.17%.

Albemarle Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.