Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Demars Financial Group LLC

Demars Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 58.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,604 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 5,136 shares during the quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. City State Bank increased its stake in Albemarle by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 21,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ALB. Mizuho dropped their price target on Albemarle from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Berenberg Bank raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $114.36 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business’s 50 day moving average is $122.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.45. The company has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $106.69 and a 12 month high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $8.62 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.99%.

About Albemarle

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.