Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Holdings Raised by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,208 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 793 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 1,400.0% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 340.6% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 606.5% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. First Community Trust NA lifted its stake in Albemarle by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.30.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $77.57 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $9.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.93 and a beta of 1.70. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.03. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $67.23 and a 52 week high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -14.46%.

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.