New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Has $3.14 Million Position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Key Points

• New Age Alpha Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 27.0%, selling 16,104 shares, resulting in ownership of 43,531 shares valued at approximately $3.1 million.
• Several analysts have decreased their target prices for Albemarle, with Morgan Stanley setting a new target of $58.00 and JPMorgan Chase adjusting it to $60.00, indicating a generally cautious outlook on the stock.
• Albemarle announced a quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.4%, with dividends to be paid on October 1st.

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 27.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,531 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 16,104 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC's holdings in Albemarle were worth $3,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 84.1% in the 1st quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 670 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Chapman Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 51.1% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 908 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of Albemarle stock traded up $2.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.21. 1,141,161 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,447,271. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. Albemarle Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.43 and a 52 week high of $113.91. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $66.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.48. The company has a market cap of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.77 and a beta of 1.63.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%. The business's revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -17.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on ALB shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Albemarle from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Mizuho set a $76.00 price target on Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $88.06.

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.