Banco Santander S.A. Has $2.97 Million Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Banco Santander S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,444 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $2,965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Albemarle by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,660,000 after acquiring an additional 282,194 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Albemarle by 71.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 6,234 shares during the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 28,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,481,000 after acquiring an additional 4,899 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 705,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,839,000 after acquiring an additional 157,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Albemarle by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,067,000 after acquiring an additional 93,718 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ALB. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $75.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of -6.75 and a beta of 1.70. Albemarle Co. has a 12 month low of $67.23 and a 12 month high of $137.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. On average, research analysts predict that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently -14.46%.

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.