Quantbot Technologies LP Boosts Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 106.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,788 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 92,175 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP owned 0.15% of Albemarle worth $12,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $26,836,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Albemarle by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $110,814,000 after buying an additional 343,210 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 1,167,520 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $84,085,000 after buying an additional 173,441 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 6,393.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $10,975,000 after buying an additional 150,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc grew its stake in Albemarle by 1,213.0% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 158,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,657,000 after buying an additional 146,566 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ALB shares. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.06.

Albemarle Stock Up 0.9%

ALB stock opened at $82.18 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a PE ratio of -8.82 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $69.53 and its 200 day moving average is $67.83. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.04 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -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.