ProShare Advisors LLC Has $171.37 Million Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,207 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 1.69% of Albemarle worth $171,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after purchasing an additional 359,014 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $240,044,000 after buying an additional 53,985 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $123,280,000 after buying an additional 8,243 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,290,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $111,112,000 after buying an additional 139,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,195,496 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $102,910,000 after buying an additional 14,603 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ALB shares. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their price target on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.43.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,815,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,790,730. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $131.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of -5.37 and a beta of 1.71. The stock's 50-day moving average is $63.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.68.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. Albemarle's revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -14.57%.

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.