Electron Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 222,307 Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Electron Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 222,307 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,911,000. Albemarle comprises 1.6% of Electron Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Electron Capital Partners LLC owned 0.19% of Albemarle as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,630,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $230,603,000 after purchasing an additional 207,770 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,263,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,464,000 after purchasing an additional 22,856 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 57.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,241,106 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $175,542,000 after buying an additional 453,881 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $165,271,000. Finally, Phoenix Financial Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth about $130,415,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 16,393 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.72, for a total transaction of $3,011,721.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 87,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,078,990.68. The trade was a 15.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $153.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Albemarle from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Vertical Research raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $224.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.87.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $116.04 on Tuesday. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $64.95 and a one year high of $221.00. The company has a market cap of $13.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.03 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.07. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $147.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.08.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $1.71. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 5.22% and a negative net margin of 5.00%.The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post 12.86 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -48.09%.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.