Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Stock Position Cut by Shufro Rose & Co. LLC

Shufro Rose & Co. LLC lessened its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 211 shares during the period. Shufro Rose & Co. LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $6,500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. USCF Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 21,400.0% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.05.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock traded up $1.90 during trading on Friday, reaching $116.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,723,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,343,544. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $122.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $106.69 and a one year high of $247.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.62 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is 11.99%.

About Albemarle

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.