New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 2,083 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 12th, 2023

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,083 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.11% of Albemarle worth $28,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Green Square Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Green Square Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $614,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 2.3% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,671 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.4% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 51.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Busey Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Busey Wealth Management now owns 1,962 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. 82.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ALB shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $345.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Albemarle from $350.00 to $277.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Albemarle from $497.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Credit Suisse Group restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.00.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.40, for a total transaction of $1,432,980.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,473,054.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $201.71 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $23.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.54. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $185.15 and a 12-month high of $334.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $240.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $8.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.46 by $0.16. Albemarle had a net margin of 36.75% and a return on equity of 37.63%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was up 193.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 29.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 17th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 16th. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.01%.

Albemarle Company Profile

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Albemarle Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop production, food-safety, and custom chemistry services. It operates through the following business segments: Lithium, Bromine, Catalysts, and All Other.