Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Has $3.97 Million Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,461 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,881 shares during the period. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 142.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,043,861 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $177,499,000 after buying an additional 612,963 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 15,046.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 347,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $502,450,000 after buying an additional 345,467 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,555,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $224,802,000 after buying an additional 174,391 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 14.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,221,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $207,749,000 after buying an additional 151,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Albemarle by 10.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,570,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $267,117,000 after buying an additional 146,450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $116.88 on Friday. 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 PE ratio of 8.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.69 and a twelve month high of $247.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $122.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.76.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The firm 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $8.62 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on ALB shares. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $130.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Three equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.05.

Albemarle 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.