Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group lowered its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 15.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 180,369 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 33,286 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned about 0.15% of Albemarle worth $15,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in Albemarle by 48.9% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. First Community Trust NA lifted its position in Albemarle by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,908 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 4,655 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.30.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB stock opened at $66.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.94 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.36. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $66.15 and a 52 week high of $137.50.

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

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is -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.