Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Beech Hill Advisors Inc.

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 1.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 22,450 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 359,014 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in Albemarle by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,653,000 after buying an additional 320,150 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 17.4% during the first quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 1,167,520 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $84,085,000 after acquiring an additional 173,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 6,393.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $10,975,000 after acquiring an additional 150,047 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:ALB opened at $60.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.43 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.11. Albemarle Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.43 and a 1 year high of $113.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $58.62 and a 200-day moving average of $73.07.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 22.39% and a negative return on equity of 1.92%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Albemarle to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 target price on shares of Albemarle and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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.