Richelieu Gestion SA Grows Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Richelieu Gestion SA increased its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 2,888 shares during the quarter. Albemarle comprises about 2.5% of Richelieu Gestion SA’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Richelieu Gestion SA’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 164 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $175.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded 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. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $140.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $176.70.

Albemarle Trading Down 3.2 %

ALB traded down $4.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $120.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,454,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,545,410. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $120.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $137.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.62. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $106.69 and a twelve month high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $8.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.99%.

Albemarle Company 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.