Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Purchases 2,719 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,030 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 2,719 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,833,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $363,117,000 after acquiring an additional 20,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $258,797,000 after acquiring an additional 14,874 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 38.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $96,660,000 after acquiring an additional 282,194 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $85,570,000. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 741,484 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,827,000 after acquiring an additional 35,765 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Albemarle Trading Down 1.5 %

Albemarle stock opened at $81.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $143.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.55 billion, a PE ratio of -7.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 45.02 and a beta of 1.59. The business’s fifty day moving average is $86.93 and its 200 day moving average is $92.14.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted 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 net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 0.11 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group reduced their price target on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.68.

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.