Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Has $654,000 Holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC lowered its stake in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 5.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,080 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 520 shares during the period. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 340.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. acquired a new position in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 62.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 471 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price objective on Albemarle and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Albemarle to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.62.

Albemarle Trading Down 4.5%

ALB stock opened at $56.72 on Monday. Albemarle Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $113.91. The firm has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.10 and a beta of 1.61. The business’s 50 day moving average is $58.33 and its 200-day moving average is $73.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.92% and a negative net margin of 22.39%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.