Royal
Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Albemarle Co.
(NYSE:ALB) by 30.8% during the first quarter, according to the
company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange
Commission. The fund owned 308,875 shares of the specialty chemicals
company’s stock after buying an additional 72,754 shares during the
period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.28% of Albemarle worth
$28,645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,462,171 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $784,785,000 after buying an additional 400,323 shares during the last quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT now owns 1,985,826 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $184,166,000 after buying an additional 602,784 shares during the last quarter. Global X Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Global X Management Co. LLC now owns 1,622,819 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $150,500,000 after buying an additional 115,858 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 33.7% during the 1st quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,557,135 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $144,409,000 after buying an additional 392,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carmignac Gestion bought a new position in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $113,591,000. 86.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Shares of Albemarle opened at $93.64 on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 2.48. The firm has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.63. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $86.75 and a 1-year high of $144.99.
Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 9th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $821.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $798.20 million. Albemarle had a return on equity of 13.80% and a net margin of 4.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 5.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.335 per share. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 29.19%.
A number of research analysts have commented on ALB shares. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Albemarle from $148.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 12th. Citigroup raised Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $106.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 13th. Vertical Group raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target (down previously from $160.00) on shares of Albemarle in a report on Friday, March 2nd. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $123.76.
Albemarle Company Profile
Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. Its Lithium and Advanced Materials segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, and lithium specialties, as well as reagents, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride for applications in lithium batteries for consumer electronics and automobiles, high performance greases, thermoplastic elastomers for car tires, rubber soles, plastic bottles, catalysts for chemical reactions, organic synthesis processes, life science, pharmaceutical, and other markets.