Xponance Inc. Boosts Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,196 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 21,400.0% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 112.1% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 227 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $112.30 on Tuesday. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $106.69 and a 1 year high of $247.44. The company has a market cap of $13.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $122.89 and a 200-day moving average of $128.77.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.62 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. 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 research report on Friday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.05.

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.