DAVENPORT & Co LLC Sells 13,799 Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC reduced its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 10.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 118,988 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 13,799 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC owned about 0.10% of Albemarle worth $8,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in 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 last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price target on Albemarle and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Albemarle to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group cut their price target on Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.62.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE ALB traded down $0.60 on Friday, reaching $67.39. The company had a trading volume of 2,322,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,855,608. The firm has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.06 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Albemarle Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.28.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 1.92% and a negative net margin of 22.39%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.405 dividend. 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 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.