FLC Capital Advisors Sells 1,646 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

FLC Capital Advisors lessened its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 42.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,218 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,646 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors’ holdings in Albemarle were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. First Community Trust NA purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 610.0% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 2,142.1% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ALB. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Baird R W cut shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.60.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $98.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a PE ratio of 35.73, a P/E/G ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.36. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $172.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.33 EPS. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

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.