Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 5,340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $959,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,630,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $230,603,000 after purchasing an additional 207,770 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 3.7% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,475,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $119,710,000 after purchasing an additional 52,698 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,263,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,464,000 after purchasing an additional 22,856 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Albemarle by 57.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,241,106 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $175,542,000 after purchasing an additional 453,881 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth about $165,271,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $170.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Albemarle from $216.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. HSBC lifted their price target on Albemarle from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Albemarle from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.58.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.6%

ALB stock opened at $135.27 on Friday. Albemarle Corporation has a 52-week low of $64.24 and a 52-week high of $221.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market cap of $15.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.67, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $1.71. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 5.22% and a negative net margin of 5.00%.Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post 12.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -47.51%.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 16,393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.72, for a total transaction of $3,011,721.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 87,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,078,990.68. This represents a 15.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.