Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Fortem Financial Group LLC

Fortem Financial Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,471 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,801 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 842 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $370,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 135,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,804,000 after acquiring an additional 4,131 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in Albemarle by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 26,098 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,472,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ALB. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.74.

Albemarle Trading Up 3.6 %

Albemarle stock traded up $3.18 during trading on Monday, reaching $90.97. The company had a trading volume of 1,609,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,007,612. 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 capitalization of $10.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.43 and a beta of 1.58. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $143.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $99.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.18.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -9.67%.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available at this link. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.