Dohj LLC Invests $583,000 in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Dohj LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,037 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,415 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter valued at $323,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 125.3% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 874 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,509 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,487,000 after purchasing an additional 6,619 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ALB traded up $1.90 on Friday, hitting $116.88. The company had a trading volume of 1,723,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,343,544. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.76. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $106.69 and a 1 year high of $247.44. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $13.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $8.62 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 11.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ALB. TD Cowen lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Vertical Research lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.