Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Holdings Decreased by HB Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• HB Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 18.1%, selling 94,347 shares in the first quarter, leaving it with approximately 0.36% of the company valued at $30.7 million.
• Several analysts have downgraded Albemarle's stock, with price targets being cut significantly, leading to a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.00.
• Albemarle announced a quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share, with a scheduled payout on October 1st, translating to an annual yield of 1.93%.

HB Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 18.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 425,945 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 94,347 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC owned about 0.36% of Albemarle worth $30,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,256,294,000 after acquiring an additional 359,014 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $240,044,000 after buying an additional 53,985 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $171,365,000 after buying an additional 25,207 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $123,280,000 after buying an additional 8,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Albemarle by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,290,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $111,112,000 after acquiring an additional 139,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho set a $76.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $91.00.

Albemarle Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:ALB traded down $0.73 on Wednesday, reaching $70.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,990,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,408,253. 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $113.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $65.36 and a 200 day moving average of $69.58. The stock has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.37 and a beta of 1.63.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Albemarle's payout ratio 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.