Semanteon Capital Management LP Buys New Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 11,610 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,100,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.4% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,813,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $364,223,000 after purchasing an additional 87,970 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Albemarle by 4.9% in the first quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 2,472,155 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $325,682,000 after purchasing an additional 116,284 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 176.6% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,588,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $209,333,000 after buying an additional 3,662,117 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,568,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $149,833,000 after acquiring an additional 144,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Albemarle by 2.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,311,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $125,264,000 after acquiring an additional 29,721 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. HSBC downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.30.

Albemarle Stock Up 4.0 %

ALB traded up $3.70 during trading on Monday, reaching $97.21. 231,400 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,989,012. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $153.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $11.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Company 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.