Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 52.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,974 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 50,799 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $4,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 3,216 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 3,846 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $220,000. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC now owns 123,436 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $11,791,000 after purchasing an additional 9,182 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 40.2% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ALB shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB opened at $87.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a P/E/G ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.22. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $188.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $7.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.91%.

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.