Albemarle Corporation $ALB Shares Acquired by DAVENPORT & Co LLC

DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 20.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 142,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 23,888 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $8,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ALB. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 74.5% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 84.1% in the 1st quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 670 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $78.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Albemarle from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Albemarle from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $87.47.

Albemarle Trading Up 4.4%

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $92.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $79.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Albemarle Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $113.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.88 and a beta of 1.65.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.94. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.04 earnings per share. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently -17.38%.

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.