Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Ingalls & Snyder LLC

Ingalls & Snyder LLC lowered its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 55.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,133 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 7,776 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth about $85,570,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 9,108.7% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 574,805 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $54,440,000 after buying an additional 568,563 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 38.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $96,660,000 after buying an additional 282,194 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 67.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 658,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,333,000 after buying an additional 264,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 7,667.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 163,659 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $155,000,000 after buying an additional 161,552 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 3.3 %

Albemarle stock opened at $79.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.44. The firm has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $143.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $89.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 1.67% and a negative net margin of 28.80%. On average, research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their price target on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.14.

Albemarle Profile

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.