Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Cornerstone Advisors LLC

Cornerstone Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 51.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,900 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ALB. USCF Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter worth about $35,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 21,400.0% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $156.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. TD Cowen cut 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 report on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Albemarle from $138.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $165.16.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $126.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $124.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $125.87. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $106.69 and a 1 year high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $10.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is 58.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,875.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total transaction of $194,950.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $626,882.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,875.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle 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.