Albemarle Corporation $ALB Stock Bought by Robeco Schweiz AG

Robeco Schweiz AG grew its stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 53.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 359,099 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 124,328 shares during the period. Robeco Schweiz AG owned 0.30% of Albemarle worth $37,985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ALB. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 598.4% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,869 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 8,456 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 6,934 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 3,838 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 931.8% in the 3rd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $195,000 after buying an additional 1,668 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 36,123 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,821,000 after buying an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 83.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 9,309 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $985,000 after buying an additional 4,246 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ALB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Albemarle from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Albemarle from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $157.00 to $129.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 10th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $179.41.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $93.72 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.06 billion, a PE ratio of 347.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.77. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $88.01 and a one year high of $221.00.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.55. Albemarle had a net margin of 3.09% and a return on equity of 10.96%. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company develops, manufactures, and markets engineered chemicals used in energy storage, transportation, refining, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, consumer products, and other industrial applications.

Albemarle is one of the world’s major producers of lithium and supplies lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, for use in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid energy-storage systems.