Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Has $354,000 Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,114 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 420 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $85,570,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 9,108.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 574,805 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $54,440,000 after acquiring an additional 568,563 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $96,660,000 after acquiring an additional 282,194 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 67.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 658,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $62,333,000 after acquiring an additional 264,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 7,667.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 163,659 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $155,000,000 after purchasing an additional 161,552 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ALB. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.95.

Albemarle Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE ALB opened at $83.99 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $143.19. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $94.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,296.64. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Albemarle 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.