Cerity Partners LLC Sells 9,057 Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)

Cerity Partners LLC reduced its position in Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 30.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,447 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 9,057 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after buying an additional 359,014 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $240,044,000 after purchasing an additional 53,985 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $171,365,000 after purchasing an additional 25,207 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,280,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,290,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $111,112,000 after purchasing an additional 139,600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ALB. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Albemarle from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.00.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $77.11 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.89. The company has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.93 and a beta of 1.63. Albemarle Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly 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. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 22.39% and a negative return on equity of 1.92%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Albemarle’s revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.57%.

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.