Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 76.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,126 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 64,875 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 71.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 6,234 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 28,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,481,000 after acquiring an additional 4,899 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 172.1% during the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $554,000 after acquiring an additional 4,051 shares during the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Albemarle by 50.5% during the fourth quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 38,964 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,354,000 after acquiring an additional 13,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ALB shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price 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 decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $122.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.05.

Albemarle Stock Up 1.3 %

ALB stock opened at $58.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a PE ratio of -5.22 and a beta of 1.59. 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’s fifty day moving average is $68.11 and its 200 day moving average is $85.17. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $49.43 and a one 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) 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, research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.