Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $2.53 Million Stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 14.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,109 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,474 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Albemarle by 340.6% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 62.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 471 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $67.39. The stock had a trading volume of 2,322,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,858,122. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.06 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.15. Albemarle Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.43 and a 52 week high of $113.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 22.39% and a negative return on equity of 1.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Albemarle's quarterly revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ALB shares. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.62.

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.