Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Reduces Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich reduced its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,243 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 194 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,191,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new position in Albemarle in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. USCF Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new position in Albemarle in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 21,400.0% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $116.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average of $122.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $128.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $106.69 and a fifty-two week high of $247.44.

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

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently 11.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America upgraded Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Albemarle in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

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.