New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Position in Albemarle Corporation $ALB

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,040 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,200 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $7,138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Albemarle by 10,050.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 406 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 36.8% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 413 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 7,257.1% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 515 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 536.7% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 573 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Albemarle by 248.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 689 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $75.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $161.16.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB stock opened at $168.58 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $152.76 and a 200-day moving average of $111.13. The company has a market cap of $19.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.02, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Albemarle Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $195.68.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.10% and a negative net margin of 0.43%.The company’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.55) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Company 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.