Primecap Management Co. CA Reduces Stock Position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Key Points

• Primecap Management Co. CA reduced its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 0.5%, now owning over 3.3 million shares valued at approximately $240 million.
• Albemarle reported a surprising earnings per share (EPS) of $0.11, exceeding expectations of a loss, and recorded quarterly revenue of $1.33 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.405, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.4%, with payment set for October 1st.

Primecap Management Co. CA lessened its stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,332,284 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 17,670 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA owned about 2.83% of Albemarle worth $239,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Evermay Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 84.1% in the 1st quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 670 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, Chapman Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ALB. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Albemarle to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $88.06.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of ALB traded up $2.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $72.21. The company had a trading volume of 1,141,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,447,271. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. The company has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.77 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $66.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.48. Albemarle Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.43 and a 52 week high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.04 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 2.2%. Albemarle's payout ratio is currently -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.