HM Payson & Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

HM Payson & Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,030 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 19.8% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 29,129 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,759,000 after purchasing an additional 4,813 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Albemarle by 0.8% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 43,996 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,167,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Albemarle by 3.2% during the third 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. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its position in Albemarle by 25.2% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,216 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $494,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. 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. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.05.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $75.57 on Monday. 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 fifty day moving average price of $83.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.94. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.23 and a fifty-two week high of $137.50. The firm has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.75 and a beta of 1.70.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued 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 return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm 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 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -14.46%.

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.