O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Makes New $218,000 Investment in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 71.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 6,234 shares during the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 20.5% in the fourth 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. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 39,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after buying an additional 5,197 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 172.1% in the 4th quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 4,051 shares during the period. Finally, Leibman Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Albemarle by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 38,964 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,354,000 after acquiring an additional 13,075 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.70.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.5 %

ALB opened at $56.61 on Monday. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $49.43 and a twelve month high of $137.50. The firm has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.05 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.46%.

Albemarle Profile

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.