Albemarle Corporation $ALB Shares Acquired by Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 314.3%, acquiring a total of 83,374 shares valued at approximately $6 million.
• Albemarle reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.11, exceeding expectations, but its revenue decreased by 7.0% compared to the previous year.
• Analysts have issued mixed ratings on Albemarle's stock, with five analysts rating it as a sell, while the consensus price target is $88.06.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 314.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,374 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 63,248 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned 0.07% of Albemarle worth $6,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,672,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,056,697,000 after buying an additional 77,773 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $171,365,000 after buying an additional 25,207 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $123,280,000 after buying an additional 8,243 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Albemarle by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,290,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $111,112,000 after acquiring an additional 139,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,195,496 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $102,910,000 after acquiring an additional 14,603 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of Albemarle stock traded up $2.3530 during trading on Friday, reaching $81.2930. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,362,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,549,523. Albemarle Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $113.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.75 and a beta of 1.63.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The business 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 posted $0.04 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Albemarle's payout ratio is presently -17.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Baird R W downgraded Albemarle from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price target on Albemarle and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $89.17.

Albemarle 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.