Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD Has $55,000 Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD cut its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 47.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 644 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 580 shares during the quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $55,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth about $85,570,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 38.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,660,000 after purchasing an additional 282,194 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 67.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 658,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $62,333,000 after purchasing an additional 264,756 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 28.7% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 705,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,839,000 after purchasing an additional 157,319 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 28.5% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,067,000 after purchasing an additional 93,718 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.77.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $75.57 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $67.23 and a 52 week high of $137.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of -6.75 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $84.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. Albemarle’s dividend 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.