Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Makes New $491,000 Investment in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund bought a new position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 5,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $491,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth $85,570,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 282,194 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 264,756 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 705,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,839,000 after buying an additional 157,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted 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 buying an additional 93,718 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI downgraded Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.68.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,296.64. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $77.60 on Thursday. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $143.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $85.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.93 and a beta of 1.59.

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

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.