Cynosure Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Cynosure Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,373 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 740 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 359,014 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% during 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. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $102,653,000 after purchasing an additional 320,150 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,040,970 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $89,607,000 after buying an additional 20,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $85,570,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ALB. Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.30.

Albemarle Stock Down 8.0 %

NYSE ALB opened at $66.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.94 and a beta of 1.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $78.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $90.36. 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 Co. has a one year low of $66.15 and a one year high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -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.