Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 11,456 Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. decreased its position in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 80.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,846 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 11,456 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ALB. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,187 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 81.2% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 17,019 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,629 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 36.4% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 78,864 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 21,031 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 35,828 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,084,000 after purchasing an additional 5,384 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 299.8% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 63,684 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,482,000 after purchasing an additional 47,755 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $70.44 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of -6.33 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.24. Albemarle Corporation has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 22.39% and a negative return on equity of 1.92%. The firm’s revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ALB. Mizuho set a $76.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group set a $57.00 target price on shares of Albemarle and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.19.

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.