Albemarle Corporation $ALB Shares Purchased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 41,596 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 10,845 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PGGM Investments grew its position in Albemarle by 10.8% during the third quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,185,005 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $96,080,000 after acquiring an additional 115,081 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,313,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 165,074 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $13,384,000 after purchasing an additional 21,257 shares in the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter worth about $267,000. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 866,575 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,308,000 after purchasing an additional 88,457 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ALB shares. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $167.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Albemarle from $195.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Albemarle from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, HSBC raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.04.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $195.64 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $23.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.02, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $165.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $121.27. Albemarle Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.43 and a 52-week high of $206.00.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The company 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 0.41% and a negative net margin of 10.74%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.09) EPS. Analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle 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.