Albany International (NYSE:AIN) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

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

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered their price target on Albany International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Albany International from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Albany International from $95.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albany International has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.50.

Albany International Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Albany International stock opened at $81.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of 25.61 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.91. Albany International has a 1 year low of $67.39 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 3.68 and a quick ratio of 2.94.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $304.51 million. Albany International had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 7.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Albany International will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Albany International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. This is a boost from Albany International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Albany International’s payout ratio is presently 32.50%.

Insider Activity at Albany International

In other news, CEO Gunnar Kleveland bought 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $71.25 per share, for a total transaction of $99,750.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 8,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $590,235. This trade represents a 20.34 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Joseph M. Gaug acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $71.24 per share, with a total value of $71,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,215.64. This trade represents a 17.21 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 3,450 shares of company stock valued at $245,813. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Albany International

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albany International by 5,971.5% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 683,895 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $57,755,000 after purchasing an additional 672,631 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Albany International by 60.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 161,340 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $14,335,000 after acquiring an additional 60,812 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Albany International by 2.1% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,592,787 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $218,961,000 after acquiring an additional 53,743 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Albany International by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,091,660 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $92,192,000 after purchasing an additional 52,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its position in Albany International by 176.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 66,900 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $5,650,000 after purchasing an additional 42,740 shares in the last quarter. 97.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Albany International Company 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.