Spire Wealth Management Sells 211 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Posted by on Apr 24th, 2023

Spire Wealth Management lessened its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,296 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 211 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp increased its stake in Albemarle by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Trustcore Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. Trustcore Financial Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 5,700 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,473,054.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $497.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $297.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Mizuho increased their target price 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. Finally, CICC Research initiated coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Three 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.50.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Albemarle stock opened at $173.75 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $227.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $249.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market cap of $20.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.53. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.82 and a fifty-two week high of $334.55.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $8.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.46 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.60 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 36.75% and a return on equity of 37.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 193.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 26.61 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 17th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 16th. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.01%.

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

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