Prudential Financial Inc. Reduces Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,247 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 12,507 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.06% of Albemarle worth $5,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $85,570,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 2.5% in the fourth 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 last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 67.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 658,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $62,333,000 after purchasing an additional 264,756 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Albemarle during the 4th quarter valued at $11,694,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $40,067,000 after buying an additional 93,718 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of ALB opened at $72.21 on Monday. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $67.23 and a 1 year high of $137.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.45 and a beta of 1.70.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. On average, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently -14.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ALB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Clarkson Capital started coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.30.

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.