Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Sells 907 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lessened its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,492 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 907 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,660,000 after purchasing an additional 282,194 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 71.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 6,234 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 28,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,481,000 after purchasing an additional 4,899 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,067,000 after purchasing an additional 93,718 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 67.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 658,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $62,333,000 after acquiring an additional 264,756 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 4.2 %

ALB stock opened at $75.41 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $82.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.38. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.23 and a fifty-two week high of $137.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $8.87 billion, a PE ratio of -6.73 and a beta of 1.70.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -14.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ALB shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.05.

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.