Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Albemarle Corporation by 13.0%, acquiring an additional 6,513 shares, bringing their total ownership to 56,483 shares worth approximately $4,072,000.
• Despite recent investments from various institutional investors, Albemarle's stock has faced downgrades from analysts, with Baird R W lowering the rating to "strong sell" and several other firms issuing target prices below current levels.
• Albemarle recently posted a quarterly earnings report, beating EPS estimates with a profit of $0.11, although revenue fell by 7.0% year-over-year.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 13.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,513 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Albemarle were worth $4,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in Albemarle during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 84.1% during the first quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 670 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chapman Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $60,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. TD Securities decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Albemarle from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $89.17.

Albemarle Trading Up 1.0%

ALB stock traded up $0.7770 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $78.8970. The company had a trading volume of 2,886,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,402,339. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Albemarle Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.43 and a 52 week high of $113.91. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $70.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.97. The stock has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.47 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research 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. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio is presently -17.38%.

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.