GAMMA Investing LLC Buys Shares of 1,058 Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $153,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 11.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,415 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter worth about $323,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 125.3% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 874 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $149,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 47.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,509 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,487,000 after acquiring an additional 6,619 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ALB. Loop Capital cut their price target on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America upgraded Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, TD Cowen cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $116.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 8.76, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $106.69 and a 52 week high of $247.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.