U S Global Investors Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,000 Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

U S Global Investors Inc. bought a new stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 3.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Albemarle by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. First Community Trust NA grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its holdings in Albemarle by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 42,529 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,296.64. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.68.

Albemarle Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE:ALB opened at $78.97 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.05 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $143.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently -14.46%.

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.