Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Buys 500 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 12.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,595 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,908 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 4,655 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 39,657 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,414,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 626 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 62.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 471 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $60.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.41 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.68. Albemarle Co. has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.62.

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.