Tweedy Browne Co LLC Buys Shares of 3,869 Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Tweedy Browne Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 3,869 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $138,723,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 22,047.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 713,812 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,613,000 after buying an additional 710,589 shares during the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle in the third quarter worth $47,088,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec bought a new stake in Albemarle in the third quarter worth $41,239,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the second quarter worth $29,482,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Albemarle from $145.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Truist Financial set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Stephens restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $158.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.24.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.3%

Albemarle stock opened at $166.24 on Wednesday. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $206.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $171.38 and its 200 day moving average is $130.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.56 billion, a PE ratio of -28.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.23 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.53) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.41% and a negative net margin of 10.74%.Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.09) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -28.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 11,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.81, for a total transaction of $2,012,654.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,995,808.68. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.