Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Purchases Shares of 1,337 Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,337 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 1,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 340.6% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 606.5% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Community Trust NA grew its position in Albemarle by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.30.

Albemarle Trading Down 2.5 %

ALB opened at $75.73 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $80.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.94. The firm has a market cap of $8.90 billion, a PE ratio of -6.76 and a beta of 1.70. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $67.23 and a twelve month 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.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share 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 anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -14.46%.

Albemarle Company 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.