Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Shares Purchased by Banco Santander S.A.

Key Points

• Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 111.1%, now owning approximately 0.06% of the company with a value of $5,236,000.
• Various institutional investors, including Grandfield & Dodd LLC and Renaissance Technologies LLC, have recently modified their holdings in Albemarle, indicating strong institutional interest with 92.87% of the stock owned by such entities.
• Albemarle reported a negative net margin of 18.61% for the last quarter, despite beating earnings expectations, with projected EPS expected to hit -0.04 for the fiscal year.

Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 111.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,704 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 38,260 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A. owned about 0.06% of Albemarle worth $5,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 5.2% during the first quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 243,036 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $17,503,000 after purchasing an additional 12,014 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle during the first quarter worth approximately $271,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Albemarle by 3.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 184,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $13,282,000 after purchasing an additional 6,487 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 2,151.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 60,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $5,234,000 after buying an additional 58,100 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ALB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $74.00 price target on Albemarle and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $88.06.

Albemarle Price Performance

Albemarle stock traded up $3.26 during trading on Thursday, reaching $70.56. The company had a trading volume of 2,248,831 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,441,925. Albemarle Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $113.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $66.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a PE ratio of -7.56 and a beta of 1.63.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -17.38%.

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.