Norinchukin Bank The Raises Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Norinchukin Bank The lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,456 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the quarter. Norinchukin Bank The’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at $85,570,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $1,256,294,000 after buying an additional 359,014 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in Albemarle by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $102,653,000 after buying an additional 320,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,694,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $54.76 on Wednesday. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $137.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $70.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.89 and a beta of 1.59.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. Equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on ALB. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.