4,578 Shares in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Purchased by Hager Investment Management Services LLC

Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 4,578 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $394,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 3.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 48.9% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. First Community Trust NA boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 42,529 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Clarkson Capital initiated coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.95.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $82.48 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.11. Albemarle Co. has a 12-month low of $71.97 and a 12-month high of $143.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.92, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.59.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Company 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.