Cynosure Group LLC Cuts Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Cynosure Group LLC lessened its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 18.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,373 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 740 shares during the quarter. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 95.9% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,571 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $240,044,000 after purchasing an additional 53,985 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 169,206 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $14,565,000 after purchasing an additional 9,953 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Allianz SE bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ALB shares. Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Clarkson Capital started coverage on Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.30.

Albemarle Trading Down 8.0 %

Albemarle stock opened at $66.50 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.36. 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 company has a market capitalization of $7.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.94 and a beta of 1.70. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $66.15 and a 12 month high of $137.50.

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%. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently -14.46%.

About Albemarle

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.