Bayforest Capital Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 455.9% in Q1, holding 10,912 shares worth approximately $786,000.
• Albemarle recently reported earnings of $0.11 per share for the quarter, exceeding estimates and generating $1.33 billion in revenue, despite a 7% decline year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.0%, to be paid on October 1st.

Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 455.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,912 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,949 shares during the quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd's holdings in Albemarle were worth $786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at $26,836,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 28.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $110,814,000 after buying an additional 343,210 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 140.5% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 458,214 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $32,996,000 after buying an additional 267,659 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 106.4% in the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 415,111 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $29,896,000 after buying an additional 214,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 17.4% in the first quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 1,167,520 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $84,085,000 after buying an additional 173,441 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Albemarle from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of Albemarle from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $86.47.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB stock traded up $0.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $76.03. The company had a trading volume of 2,507,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,779,952. The firm has a market cap of $8.95 billion, a PE ratio of -8.16 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. Albemarle Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.43 and a 12 month high of $113.91. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $76.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.96.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -17.38%.

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.