Touchstone Capital Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Touchstone Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,133 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,582 shares during the quarter. Albemarle comprises 3.2% of Touchstone Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Touchstone Capital Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Albemarle by 51.2% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank raised its position in Albemarle by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new stake in Albemarle during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 164 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Albemarle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. TD Cowen downgraded Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Citigroup downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $175.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $176.70.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $131.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.47 billion, a PE ratio of 9.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.17. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.69 and a 1-year high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.62 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 11.99%.

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.