Albemarle Corporation $ALB Shares Bought by Jones Financial Companies Lllp

Key Points

• Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 39.0%, acquiring an additional 9,074 shares, bringing its total holdings to 32,362 shares valued at approximately $2.33 million.
• The stock of Albemarle saw a recent analyst upgrade from UBS Group, which raised its price target from $62.00 to $89.00, indicating market confidence.
• Albemarle reported better-than-expected earnings with a revenue of $1.33 billion during the last quarter, beating the forecasts of $1.23 billion despite a 7.0% year-over-year decline.

Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 39.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,362 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,074 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 74.5% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 452 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 84.1% in the first quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 670 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ALB. UBS Group upgraded shares of Albemarle from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Mizuho set a $76.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $86.47.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB stock traded down $0.82 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $80.13. The company had a trading volume of 351,823 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,587,041. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.00. The company has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.61 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 twelve month low of $49.43 and a twelve month 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 analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.94. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. Albemarle's revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.04 EPS. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

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