Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Short Interest Down 14.5% in February

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,250,000 shares, a decrease of 14.5% from the January 31st total of 13,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 50.4% in 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 period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 48.9% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. First Community Trust NA raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moser Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price target on 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 Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.77.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Albemarle stock traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $76.91. The stock had a trading volume of 820,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,604,288. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $84.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.02. The firm has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.87 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Albemarle has a 12-month low of $67.23 and a 12-month high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.