Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Trims Holdings in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC reduced its stake in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 25.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,252 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,098 shares during the quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $280,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 3.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 50.4% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in Albemarle by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. First Community Trust NA lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 55.0% in 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 grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $86.09 on Wednesday. Albemarle Co. has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $96.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.49. The company has a market capitalization of $10.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ALB. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

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.