Quantinno Capital Management LP Raises Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 28.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,909 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,663 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $4,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth $85,570,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth about $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after purchasing an additional 359,014 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $102,653,000 after purchasing an additional 320,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc grew its stake in Albemarle by 1,213.0% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 158,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,657,000 after purchasing an additional 146,566 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.43.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of ALB stock opened at $60.15 on Monday. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $49.43 and a 1 year high of $131.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of -5.37 and a beta of 1.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $63.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.57%.

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.