Commerce Bank Reduces Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Commerce Bank lowered its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 18.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,446 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,874 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Albemarle by 71.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after buying an additional 6,234 shares during the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 28,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,481,000 after acquiring an additional 4,899 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 172.1% during the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 4,051 shares during the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 38,964 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,354,000 after purchasing an additional 13,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beech Hill Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,952,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $54.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.89 and a beta of 1.59. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $137.50. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.54. 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 (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) 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, analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI lowered Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $122.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.05.

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.