Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $1.17 Million Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,912 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 477 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Albemarle by 1.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 162,386 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,394,000 after buying an additional 2,309 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Albemarle by 15.3% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 531,912 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $70,074,000 after acquiring an additional 70,407 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in Albemarle during the first quarter worth about $49,007,000. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. raised its stake in Albemarle by 221.3% during the first quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. now owns 9,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 6,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stamos Capital Partners L.P. raised its stake in Albemarle by 242.8% during the first quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. now owns 20,260 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,669,000 after acquiring an additional 14,350 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In related news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total transaction of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total value of $194,950.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $626,882.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $170.00 to $127.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $159.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.65.

Albemarle Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of ALB traded down $1.37 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $91.43. The stock had a trading volume of 834,170 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,020,787. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $90.02 and a 12 month high of $215.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $10.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.18%.

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.