Money Concepts Capital Corp Buys New Shares in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 9,854 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $710,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after purchasing an additional 359,014 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $240,044,000 after purchasing an additional 53,985 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $171,365,000 after buying an additional 25,207 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $123,280,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Albemarle by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,290,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $111,112,000 after buying an additional 139,600 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.62.

Albemarle Stock Up 7.7%

ALB traded up $4.82 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $67.72. The company had a trading volume of 3,382,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,857,222. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $59.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.74. The company has a market capitalization of $7.97 billion, a PE ratio of -6.10 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.92% and a negative net margin of 22.39%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. Albemarle's revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.57%.

Albemarle Company 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.