Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 24.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,541 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,572 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ALB. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 340.6% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 62.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 471 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ALB. Wall Street Zen raised Albemarle to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research 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 currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.62.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock traded up $4.49 on Wednesday, reaching $67.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,511,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,853,364. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $59.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.74. Albemarle Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.43 and a 1 year high of $113.91. The company has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.06 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Albemarle's payout ratio is -14.57%.

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.