William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 70,385 Shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 647,095 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 70,385 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 2.07% of Albany International worth $51,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AIN. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Albany International by 515.4% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 480 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Albany International by 306.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 667 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in Albany International in the fourth quarter worth about $70,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Albany International by 28.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,058 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its stake in shares of Albany International by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,305 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.37% of the company’s stock.

Albany International Stock Performance

Shares of Albany International stock opened at $73.97 on Tuesday. Albany International Corp. has a 52 week low of $67.39 and a 52 week high of $96.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.09. The firm has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.12 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The textile maker reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $286.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.52 million. Albany International had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 12.20%. Equities analysts forecast that Albany International Corp. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut Albany International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Albany International from $104.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Albany International currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.00.

Albany International Profile

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.