California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 176,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 12,901 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.15% of Albemarle worth $15,158,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP increased its position in Albemarle by 1,400.0% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 340.6% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in Albemarle by 606.5% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, First Community Trust NA lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp dropped 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. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.30.

Albemarle Trading Down 12.0 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $58.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of -5.23 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.14. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $57.53 and a 1 year high of $137.50.

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

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -14.46%.

Albemarle 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.