Courier Capital LLC Sells 864 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Courier Capital LLC decreased its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 6.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 864 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Community Trust NA purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 610.0% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. USCF Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Albemarle by 2,942.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.60.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB stock traded down $2.21 on Thursday, hitting $86.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,333,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,122,576. The stock has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.11. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $203.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

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.