Hager Investment Management Services LLC Sells 2,627 Shares of Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Hager Investment Management Services LLC cut its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 72.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,022 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,627 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $64,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. National Pension Service raised its holdings in Albemarle by 74.5% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in Albemarle by 2.6% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 9,028 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $650,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 6.7% in the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,782 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 54.4% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 727 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 6.7% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,244 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Price Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $91.68 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.84 and a beta of 1.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $80.37 and its 200 day moving average is $69.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Albemarle Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.43 and a 52-week high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -17.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ALB. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $78.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $87.47.

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.