Kraft Davis & Associates LLC Boosts Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Kraft Davis & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 17.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,904 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $275,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 124,405.7% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 104,510,053 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $22,664,050,000 after purchasing an additional 104,426,113 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 142.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,043,861 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $177,499,000 after acquiring an additional 612,963 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Albemarle by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,378,866 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $299,021,000 after acquiring an additional 432,155 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at $75,802,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 15,046.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 347,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $502,450,000 after purchasing an additional 345,467 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 firms have recently weighed in on ALB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $112.15. 1,976,050 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,648,784. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.69 and a 1-year high of $247.44. The firm has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a PE ratio of 8.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.62. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $123.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.62 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.99%.

Albemarle 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.