Albany International (NYSE:AIN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Albany International (NYSE:AIN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

AIN has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen raised Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Albany International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.75.

Albany International Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AIN opened at $80.76 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Albany International has a 12-month low of $67.39 and a 12-month high of $98.73. The business has a 50 day moving average of $81.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.24 and a beta of 1.35.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $304.51 million. Albany International had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Albany International will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Albany International Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. This is a positive change from Albany International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.75%.

Insider Transactions at Albany International

In related news, SVP Robert Alan Hansen bought 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $71.26 per share, for a total transaction of $74,823.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $597,657.62. This trade represents a 14.31 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gunnar Kleveland purchased 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $71.25 per share, with a total value of $99,750.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 8,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $590,235. The trade was a 20.34 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 3,450 shares of company stock valued at $245,813 over the last 90 days. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albany International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AIN. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Albany International by 2.1% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,592,787 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $218,961,000 after acquiring an additional 53,743 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Albany International by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,218,058 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $108,544,000 after purchasing an additional 36,944 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Albany International by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 847,829 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $75,330,000 after purchasing an additional 163,934 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Albany International by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 715,779 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $63,609,000 after buying an additional 8,356 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Albany International by 6.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 586,268 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $52,071,000 after buying an additional 36,274 shares during the last quarter. 97.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Albany International

Albany International Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the machine clothing and engineered composites businesses. The company operates in two segments, Machine Clothing (MC) and Albany Engineered Composites (AEC). The MC segment designs, manufactures, and markets paper machine clothing for use in the manufacturing of papers, paperboards, tissues, towels, pulps, nonwovens, building products, tannery, and textiles, as well as fiber cement and several other industrial applications.