Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $14.13 Million Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 164,181 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,504 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.14% of Albemarle worth $14,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 340.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its stake in Albemarle by 606.5% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. First Community Trust NA boosted its position in Albemarle by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho decreased their target price 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.24.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $60.23 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $49.43 and a 52 week high of $137.50. 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 50-day simple moving average is $66.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.29. The firm has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.38 and a beta of 1.59.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -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.