Stephens Inc. AR Trims Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,726 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 810 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $85,570,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 9,108.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 574,805 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $54,440,000 after buying an additional 568,563 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Albemarle by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $96,660,000 after buying an additional 282,194 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 67.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 658,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,333,000 after buying an additional 264,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 7,667.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 163,659 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $155,000,000 after buying an additional 161,552 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.38.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $81.20 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $9.55 billion, a PE ratio of -4.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.31. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $143.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly 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 positive return on equity of 1.67% and a negative net margin of 28.80%. Research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -1.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the completion of 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 represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

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.