Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Increases Stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Albemarle Corporation by 189.3% in Q1, owning 40,306 shares valued at $2.9 million.
• The stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" with target price expectations between $60.00 and $91.00 from various analysts.
• Albemarle announced a quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share, which reflects an annual yield of 1.93% and a negative payout ratio of 14.57%.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 189.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,306 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 26,372 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,256,294,000 after purchasing an additional 359,014 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 worth $240,044,000 after buying an additional 53,985 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 1.3% during the fourth 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 boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 8,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Albemarle by 12.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.00.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $83.84 on Friday. Albemarle Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.43 and a 52 week high of $113.91. The business's 50 day moving average price is $64.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.54 and a beta of 1.63.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) 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 the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 22.39% and a negative return on equity of 1.92%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Albemarle's dividend 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.

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