Blue Capital Inc. Makes New Investment in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Blue Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 36,770 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $3,165,000. Albemarle comprises 2.2% of Blue Capital Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $85,570,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,256,294,000 after purchasing an additional 359,014 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $102,653,000 after acquiring an additional 320,150 shares during the period. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 294.7% during the fourth quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 187,072 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $16,103,000 after purchasing an additional 139,672 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Clarkson Capital initiated coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Albemarle to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.43.

Albemarle Stock Up 2.3 %

ALB traded up $1.31 on Thursday, hitting $57.37. The company had a trading volume of 3,402,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,762,299. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.12 and a beta of 1.71. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $137.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $64.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.24.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio is currently -14.57%.

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.