AGF Management Ltd. Sells 57,937 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

AGF Management Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 90,781 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 57,937 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. owned 0.08% of Albemarle worth $8,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Albemarle by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,339,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $193,616,000 after buying an additional 116,239 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 155,523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,801,000 after acquiring an additional 13,989 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ALB shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, HSBC lowered Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Up 13.7 %

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $89.36 on Thursday. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $188.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.49, a PEG ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $88.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.74.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.91%.

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.