Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Stock Position Reduced by Wills Financial Group Inc.

Wills Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,642 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,145 shares during the period. Wills Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $916,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $242,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,268,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 114.2% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 2,804 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 22,593 shares in the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $2,905,000. Finally, Symmetry Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at $596,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.05.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.8 %

ALB stock opened at $57.73 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.71. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $49.43 and a twelve month high of $137.50. The company has a market cap of $6.79 billion, a PE ratio of -5.15 and a beta of 1.59.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.