Polar Capital Holdings Plc Purchases Shares of 10,800 Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 10,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $930,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Albemarle by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 135,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,804,000 after buying an additional 4,131 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its position in Albemarle by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 25,452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,191,000 after buying an additional 1,510 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the 4th quarter valued at $310,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the 4th quarter valued at $228,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 42.4% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,552 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $60.15 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $63.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.78. Albemarle Co. has a 52 week low of $49.43 and a 52 week high of $134.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of -5.37 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. TD Securities dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.43.

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.