Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Stock Position Raised by AMF Tjanstepension AB

AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 204.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,212 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,907 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ALB. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Albemarle by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 29,129 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,759,000 after buying an additional 4,813 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Albemarle by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 43,996 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,167,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Albemarle by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,845 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Albemarle by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 135,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,804,000 after buying an additional 4,131 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.05.

Albemarle Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $75.57 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.91. The company has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.75 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $67.23 and a 1 year high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -14.46%.

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.