Stevens Capital Management LP Decreases Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Stevens Capital Management LP decreased its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,620 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,021 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $667,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 142.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,043,861 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $177,499,000 after buying an additional 612,963 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 15,046.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 347,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $502,450,000 after purchasing an additional 345,467 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,555,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $224,802,000 after acquiring an additional 174,391 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,221,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $207,749,000 after acquiring an additional 151,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,570,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $267,117,000 after acquiring an additional 146,450 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.3 %

ALB traded down $0.31 on Thursday, hitting $114.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,419,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,237,823. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $13.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.62. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $122.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.36. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $106.69 and a 1 year high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $8.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ALB shares. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.05.

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.