Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Sells 6,726 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lessened its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 25.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,235 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 6,726 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ALB. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter valued at about $269,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 115,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $10,925,000 after buying an additional 2,084 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 19.8% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 29,129 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,759,000 after buying an additional 4,813 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 0.8% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 43,996 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,167,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ALB. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.68.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $72.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.44 and a beta of 1.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.14. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $67.23 and a fifty-two week high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. Sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently -14.46%.

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.