Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Grows Stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 359,014 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $258,797,000 after buying an additional 14,874 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in 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 worth $102,653,000 after acquiring an additional 320,150 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,040,970 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $89,607,000 after acquiring an additional 20,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter valued at $85,570,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ALB shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 for the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.30.

Albemarle Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $72.21 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $79.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.87. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $67.23 and a 1-year high of $137.50. The company has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.45 and a beta of 1.70. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. On average, research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.46%.

About Albemarle

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.