Grandfield & Dodd LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Grandfield & Dodd LLC raised its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 4.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 254,183 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,147 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC owned about 0.22% of Albemarle worth $15,930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ALB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Albemarle by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,672,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,056,697,000 after purchasing an additional 77,773 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,954,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $184,782,000 after purchasing an additional 59,104 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 48.5% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $179,870,000 after buying an additional 937,538 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Albemarle by 28.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $110,814,000 after purchasing an additional 343,210 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,072,921 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,272,000 after buying an additional 31,951 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ALB shares. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Albemarle from $87.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.38.

Albemarle Trading Up 3.9%

NYSE ALB opened at $114.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $119.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.49 billion, a PE ratio of -12.30 and a beta of 1.70.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. Albemarle’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.55) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -101.89%.

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.