Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Purchased by Nordea Investment Management AB

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,801 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 842 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,833,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $363,117,000 after acquiring an additional 20,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $258,797,000 after buying an additional 14,874 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,568,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $149,833,000 after buying an additional 144,705 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Albemarle by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,311,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $125,264,000 after buying an additional 29,721 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,198,730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $114,503,000 after buying an additional 127,615 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ALB shares. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.84.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $86.59 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.17 and a beta of 1.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $98.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $143.19.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -9.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by company 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.