Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Access Financial Services Inc.

Access Financial Services Inc. lessened its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 945 shares during the quarter. Access Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ALB. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Albemarle by 51.2% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 164 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $44,000. Finally, City State Bank increased its stake in Albemarle by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 5th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $176.70.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.3 %

Albemarle stock opened at $131.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $121.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a 52-week low of $106.69 and a 52-week high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. Albemarle’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $8.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

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.