Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Has $1.95 Million Stock Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 18.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,070 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,105 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $232,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 266.4% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 4,727 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in Albemarle by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 11,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.81, for a total transaction of $2,012,654.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 134,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,995,808.68. This trade represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Albemarle from $147.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Evercore boosted their target price on Albemarle from $100.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $210.00 price target on Albemarle and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Scotiabank upgraded Albemarle from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $85.00 to $200.00 in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $210.00 price objective on Albemarle in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.24.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $179.33 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $171.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.14 billion, a PE ratio of -31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.43. Albemarle Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.43 and a 52 week high of $206.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.23.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.53) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by ($0.13). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 10.74% and a positive return on equity of 0.41%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.09) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -28.17%.

Albemarle Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.