Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC Grows Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Albemarle worth $5,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,833,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $363,117,000 after buying an additional 20,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $258,797,000 after purchasing an additional 14,874 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,040,970 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,607,000 after purchasing an additional 20,380 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $85,570,000. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 741,484 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $63,827,000 after purchasing an additional 35,765 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on ALB. Evercore ISI cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Clarkson Capital started coverage on Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.68.

Albemarle Price Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $76.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.84 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $84.43 and a 200-day moving average of $92.02. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $67.23 and a 52-week high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. As a group, analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -14.46%.

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.