GSA Capital Partners LLP Reduces Stock Holdings in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

GSA Capital Partners LLP lessened its stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 83.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,118 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 15,477 shares during the quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 25.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,223 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,798 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at about $411,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ALB shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Evercore upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $180.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.04.

Albemarle Stock Down 3.5%

ALB stock opened at $178.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.04 billion, a PE ratio of -31.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $166.65 and a 200-day moving average of $122.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.23. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $206.00.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.53) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.41% and a negative net margin of 10.74%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.09) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -28.17%.

Albemarle Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.