Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Purchased by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,790,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 320,150 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 445,745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,370,000 after acquiring an additional 22,696 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,133,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,405,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 5,612 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ALB. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of 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 initiated coverage on Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.30.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $72.21 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.87. 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 quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. Albemarle Co. has a one year low of $67.23 and a one year high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio 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.