Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $110.81 Million Stock Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 28.7%, acquiring an additional 343,210 shares, bringing its total holdings to approximately 1.31% of the company valued at $110.8 million.
• Albemarle announced a quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.0%, payable on October 1st to stockholders of record.
• The company reported earnings of $0.11 EPS, outperforming estimates significantly, though revenue was down 7.0% compared to the previous year, with analysts predicting a negative EPS of -0.04 for the current year.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 28.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 343,210 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.31% of Albemarle worth $110,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 10.7% in the first quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 50,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,624,000 after acquiring an additional 4,872 shares in the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% in the first quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 243,036 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $17,503,000 after acquiring an additional 12,014 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth approximately $271,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 184,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $13,282,000 after acquiring an additional 6,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter worth approximately $303,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ALB shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group raised shares of Albemarle from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Baird R W downgraded shares of Albemarle from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Friday, August 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Albemarle Stock Down 3.1%

ALB stock traded down $2.72 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $84.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,538,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,470,843. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $10.00 billion, a PE ratio of -9.12 and a beta of 1.63. Albemarle Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.43 and a 12 month high of $113.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.13.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. Albemarle's payout ratio 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.