New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 9,500 Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 8.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 101,528 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 9,500 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.09% of Albemarle worth $7,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 340.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 62.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 471 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ALB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Albemarle to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.62.

Albemarle Trading Up 7.1%

Shares of ALB stock traded up $4.67 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $70.17. 7,273,642 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,878,840. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.31 and a beta of 1.63. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.86.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 22.39% and a negative return on equity of 1.92%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.57%.

Albemarle 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.