Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,966 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 932 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 26,457 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,499,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 110,918 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $18,860,000 after buying an additional 3,113 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 74,045 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,591,000 after buying an additional 10,623 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Albemarle by 49.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 3,463 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Albemarle by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,277 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,324 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America upgraded Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.80.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $130.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $106.69 and a 1-year high of $247.44. The stock has a market cap of $15.37 billion, a PE ratio of 47.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.65.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $10.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 2.86 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.18%.

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.