Corient Private Wealth LLC Buys 8,332 Shares of Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 48.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 25,361 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares during the quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC now owns 5,769 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $816,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,592 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 782 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 2,423 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $188.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $236.00 to $224.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.54.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $133.69 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.07. Albemarle Corporation has a 52-week low of $60.64 and a 52-week high of $221.00.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $1.71. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 5.22% and a negative net margin of 5.00%.The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.18) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post 12.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -47.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 16,393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.72, for a total transaction of $3,011,721.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 87,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,078,990.68. The trade was a 15.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

About Albemarle

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.