Deutsche Bank AG Purchases 66,815 Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 11.1%, acquiring an additional 66,815 shares, bringing its total holdings to 669,119 shares valued at approximately $48.19 million.
• Recent analyst reports have resulted in multiple changes to Albemarle's price targets, with JPMorgan Chase lowering theirs from $80 to $60, indicating a cautious outlook on the stock.
• Albemarle announced a quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share, payable on October 1st, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.0% despite a negative dividend payout ratio of -17.38%.

Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 11.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 669,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 66,815 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.57% of Albemarle worth $48,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 5.2% in the first quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 243,036 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $17,503,000 after purchasing an additional 12,014 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at $271,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.6% in the 1st 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 bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at $218,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2,151.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 60,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $5,234,000 after acquiring an additional 58,100 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ALB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Mizuho set a $76.00 target price on Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Securities decreased their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $88.06.

Albemarle Trading Up 7.0%

Shares of ALB stock opened at $80.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.67 and a beta of 1.63. 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 50-day simple moving average of $67.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.99. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%. Albemarle's quarterly revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.04 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio is presently -17.38%.

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.

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