Ethos Financial Group LLC Trims Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Ethos Financial Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,216 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 531 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. USCF Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 21,400.0% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ALB shares. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $160.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.05.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:ALB traded up $3.09 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $133.55. 1,938,939 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,179,423. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50-day moving average of $123.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.99. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.69 and a twelve month high of $247.44. The company has a market capitalization of $15.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.56, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.65.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 2.86 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

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.