Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Takes Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 50.4% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 48.9% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. First Community Trust NA lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 42,529 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $78.55 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.21. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $143.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.01 and a beta of 1.59.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on ALB shares. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.68.

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.