Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Grows Stock Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 36.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 320,150 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 1.01% of Albemarle worth $102,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ALB. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Albemarle by 71.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after buying an additional 6,234 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 20.5% in the fourth 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. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Albemarle by 28.5% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $40,067,000 after purchasing an additional 93,718 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 67.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 658,145 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $62,333,000 after purchasing an additional 264,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Albemarle by 15.2% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 39,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 5,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $72.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.45 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $79.84 and a 200-day moving average of $90.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $67.23 and a 1-year high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share 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 -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -14.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on ALB shares. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI downgraded Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.30.

About Albemarle

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.