Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Takes $593,000 Position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in Albemarle Corporation, purchasing 8,226 shares valued at approximately $593,000 during the 1st quarter.
• Albemarle's quarterly earnings report revealed a profit of $0.11 per share, surpassing estimates, but the company reported a 7% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company's recently declared quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share represents an annualized yield of 2.4% and will be paid on October 1st.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,226 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $593,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% in the first quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 243,036 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $17,503,000 after acquiring an additional 12,014 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at about $271,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 3.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 184,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $13,282,000 after acquiring an additional 6,487 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $218,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2,151.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 60,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $5,234,000 after purchasing an additional 58,100 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.9%

ALB stock traded up $0.64 on Monday, hitting $68.54. 3,259,548 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,575,991. Albemarle Corporation has a twelve month low of $49.43 and a twelve month high of $113.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business's fifty day moving average is $66.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.35 and a beta of 1.63.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. Albemarle's revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. Albemarle's payout ratio is currently -17.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on ALB shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Mizuho set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird restated an "underperform" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $89.78.

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.