Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. Has $417,000 Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. trimmed its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,843 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 956 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 340.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 606.5% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 50.4% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 100.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.30.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $79.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $67.23 and a 1-year high of $137.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.08 and a beta of 1.70.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio 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.