Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 132,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,370 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Albemarle worth $11,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Albemarle by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,660,000 after buying an additional 282,194 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 71.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 6,234 shares during the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 28,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,481,000 after buying an additional 4,899 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 705,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,839,000 after acquiring an additional 157,319 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 28.5% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $40,067,000 after purchasing an additional 93,718 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.68.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $78.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.05 and a beta of 1.59. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.01. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $143.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. Research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Albemarle 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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.