Korea Investment CORP Purchases 22,935 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Korea Investment CORP increased its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 100,478 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 22,935 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.09% of Albemarle worth $8,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $115,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,256,294,000 after purchasing an additional 359,014 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,086,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,480,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 531,690 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,767,000 after buying an additional 17,687 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ALB shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.30.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $72.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a PE ratio of -6.44 and a beta of 1.70. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $67.23 and a 1-year high of $137.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.76.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its 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 return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.