Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Acquired by Ieq Capital LLC

Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) by 93.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,214 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,040 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Albemarle by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,661,001 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,021,130,000 after purchasing an additional 75,867 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 0.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,364,655 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,188,408,000 after acquiring an additional 16,968 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 14.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,247,801 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $275,952,000 after acquiring an additional 155,848 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 33.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 865,408 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $191,386,000 after acquiring an additional 217,538 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 11.8% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 857,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $179,135,000 after acquiring an additional 90,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 1,719 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $378,180.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,944,480. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Karen G. Narwold sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.66, for a total transaction of $642,735.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,444 shares in the company, valued at $3,269,093.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott Tozier sold 1,719 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $378,180.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 63,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,944,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,681 shares of company stock valued at $5,310,662. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ALB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $325.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Albemarle in a report on Friday, September 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on shares of Albemarle in a report on Wednesday, October 26th. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $270.00 in a report on Thursday, October 13th. Finally, Vertical Research raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $287.47.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $264.59 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $248.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $259.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $31.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.45. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $169.93 and a twelve month high of $334.55.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $7.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.84 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $2.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 27.77% and a return on equity of 26.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 151.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 20.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Company Profile

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Albemarle Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop production, food-safety, and custom chemistry services. It operates through the following segments: Lithium, Bromine, Catalysts, and All Other.