KBC Group NV Sells 14,116 Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

KBC Group NV cut its stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 59.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,622 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 14,116 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV's holdings in Albemarle were worth $693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Albemarle by 340.6% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ALB. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. TD Securities decreased their price target on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 target price on shares of Albemarle and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.62.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.9%

ALB traded down $0.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $67.39. The company had a trading volume of 2,322,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,858,122. The company has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.06 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $60.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.15. 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 (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. The company 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 company's quarterly revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

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