WINTON GROUP Ltd Makes New $6.31 Million Investment in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 77,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,308,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Inceptionr LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 19.5% in the third quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 6,889 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 97.6% during the 3rd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,540 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,736 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,408 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 146,511 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $11,879,000 after acquiring an additional 25,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its position in Albemarle by 25,439.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 11,748 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $953,000 after acquiring an additional 11,702 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $167.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Truist Financial set a $210.00 price objective on Albemarle in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $195.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Albemarle from $109.00 to $207.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.24.

Albemarle Trading Up 4.5%

ALB opened at $169.59 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $19.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.66. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $206.00.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.53) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by ($0.13). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 10.74% and a positive return on equity of 0.41%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.09) earnings per share. Albemarle’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -28.17%.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.