Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Acquired by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,985 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $240,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $85,570,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,256,294,000 after acquiring an additional 359,014 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,653,000 after acquiring an additional 320,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 67.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 658,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $62,333,000 after acquiring an additional 264,756 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ALB shares. KeyCorp reduced their price objective 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. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.30.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB stock opened at $58.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.15. The company has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of -5.23 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $57.53 and a 12-month high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) 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, research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.46%.

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.