Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) CEO Sells $255,328.00 in Stock

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE ALB traded up $3.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $104.96. 1,556,507 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,901,574. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.22 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.97. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $153.54.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -9.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. raised its position in Albemarle by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 3,047 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc raised its position in Albemarle by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 42,529 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moser Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 5.3% in the third quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ALB. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.47.

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.