AM Squared Ltd Decreases Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

AM Squared Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 46.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Albemarle makes up about 0.4% of AM Squared Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. AM Squared Ltd’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. City State Bank grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.05.

Albemarle Trading Down 5.3 %

ALB traded down $6.39 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $114.11. The company had a trading volume of 3,493,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,620,011. The stock has a market cap of $13.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.55, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.06. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $106.69 and a 52 week high of $247.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $8.62 earnings per share. Albemarle’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.99%.

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.