Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $2.67 Million Stock Position in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 32.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 14,878 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 3.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 50.4% during 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 period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of 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 grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 0.3% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 42,529 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,031,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB opened at $81.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.23, a P/E/G ratio of 45.02 and a beta of 1.59. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $86.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.23. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $143.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. Equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.