Vontobel Holding Ltd. Buys 4,474 Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) by 14.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,109 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 4,474 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at $218,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 2,151.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 60,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $5,234,000 after acquiring an additional 58,100 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the first quarter valued at $303,000. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in Albemarle by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,575 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 6,393.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $10,975,000 after acquiring an additional 150,047 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price objective on Albemarle and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.62.

Albemarle Price Performance

Albemarle stock traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $67.39. 2,322,265 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,858,122. The stock's fifty day moving average is $60.06 and its 200-day moving average is $71.02. Albemarle Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.43 and a 12 month high of $113.91. The stock has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.06 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last announced 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 during 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 firm's revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Albemarle's payout ratio is -14.57%.

Albemarle 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.