Balentine LLC Sells 69 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 18th, 2023

Balentine LLC lowered its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 69 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ALB. Fairfield Bush & CO. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 15.0% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 5,565 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in Albemarle by 186.4% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,898 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,943,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Albemarle by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 3,859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.24% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.40, for a total value of $1,432,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,473,054.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $205.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.53. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $185.15 and a 12-month high of $334.55. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $233.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $252.06.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $8.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.46 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.60 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 36.75% and a return on equity of 37.63%. The company’s revenue was up 193.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 28.97 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 17th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. 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. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ALB. Credit Suisse Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Berenberg Bank lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $290.00 to $225.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $350.00 to $277.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $325.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.75.

Albemarle 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.