Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 513,586 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board trimmed its holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 96.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 513,586 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $1,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 77.2% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 257 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 158,926 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $22,946,000 after acquiring an additional 32,748 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 447.9% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 15,324 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after acquiring an additional 12,527 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 51,949 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,506,000 after purchasing an additional 7,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ALB shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Up 9.9 %

NYSE ALB opened at $95.17 on Friday. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $177.52. The company has a market capitalization of $11.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.61, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $86.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The business’s revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.91%.

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.