Community Bank N.A. Sells 3,690 Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)

Community Bank N.A. reduced its stake in Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) by 57.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,690 shares during the quarter. Community Bank N.A.’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in Albemarle by 0.5% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,833,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $363,117,000 after acquiring an additional 20,930 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 10.2% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,568,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $149,833,000 after purchasing an additional 144,705 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Albemarle by 2.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,311,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $125,264,000 after purchasing an additional 29,721 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 11.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,198,730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $114,503,000 after purchasing an additional 127,615 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 38.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $96,660,000 after buying an additional 282,194 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $111.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Albemarle Co. has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $153.54. The firm has a market cap of $13.08 billion, a PE ratio of -6.64 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.19.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ALB. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp lowered 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, Baird R W lowered Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.47.

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.