Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Cuts Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO reduced its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 15.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,030 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 753 shares during the period. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $1,256,294,000 after purchasing an additional 359,014 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $240,044,000 after buying an additional 53,985 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $171,365,000 after buying an additional 25,207 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,280,000 after buying an additional 8,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Albemarle by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,290,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $111,112,000 after buying an additional 139,600 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $57.53 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.85 and a 200 day moving average of $79.20. The company has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a PE ratio of -5.14 and a beta of 1.71. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $125.94. 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 (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ALB. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 target price on shares of Albemarle and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.62.

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.