Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Shares Acquired by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 9.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,413 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 2,426 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Albemarle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after buying an additional 359,014 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 320,150 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 17.4% in the 1st quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 1,167,520 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $84,085,000 after purchasing an additional 173,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 6,393.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $10,975,000 after purchasing an additional 150,047 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price objective on Albemarle and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.62.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB stock opened at $62.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Albemarle Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.43 and a 52-week high of $113.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $59.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.74. The company has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of -5.65 and a beta of 1.63.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.92% and a negative net margin of 22.39%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -14.57%.

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.