Picton Mahoney Asset Management Buys New Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $404,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Eagle Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 149.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 14,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,391,000 after purchasing an additional 8,420 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.4% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,270,000 after buying an additional 14,593 shares during the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 430.7% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 43,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,230,000 after acquiring an additional 34,994 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 80.3% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,757 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,359,000 after acquiring an additional 8,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Albemarle by 8.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 412,821 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $70,179,000 after acquiring an additional 33,662 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ALB. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Vertical Research cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $130.40 on Thursday. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $106.69 and a 12-month high of $247.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.65.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.32 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.18%.

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.