Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Sells 165 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC decreased its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,950 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 165 shares during the period. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ALB. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.4% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 51.2% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 164 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 5,212 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,378,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in Albemarle by 3.4% in the first quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,593 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $175.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $176.70.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:ALB opened at $131.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.47. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $106.69 and a 1 year high of $247.44. The stock has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.17.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

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.