Krane Funds Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Krane Funds Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,343 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,324 shares during the quarter. Albemarle accounts for approximately 0.1% of Krane Funds Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Krane Funds Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 510.0% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 90,964 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $8,689,000 after purchasing an additional 76,051 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 111,338 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $10,635,000 after buying an additional 17,439 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in Albemarle by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 37,947 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,625,000 after buying an additional 10,188 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 35.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 393,988 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,634,000 after acquiring an additional 102,533 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $992,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.7 %

ALB stock opened at $87.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $188.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.36. The company has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.80, a PEG ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for 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%. Albemarle’s revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $7.33 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.91%.

Albemarle Company 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.