Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $247,000 Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Verus Capital Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 27.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,869 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,091 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $3,816,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Albemarle by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 8,882 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $768,000 after buying an additional 4,247 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund acquired a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $491,000. Finally, Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth $121,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Clarkson Capital began coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.68.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $77.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a PE ratio of -6.88 and a beta of 1.59. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $143.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $85.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.12.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. Equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -14.46%.

About Albemarle

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.