Albany International (NYSE:AIN) Shares Up 5.1% – Here’s Why

Albany International Corporation (NYSE:AIN)’s stock price was up 5.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $44.24 and last traded at $44.3110. Approximately 592,120 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 103% from the average daily volume of 292,268 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Albany International from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Baird R W downgraded Albany International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Albany International in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research cut Albany International from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Albany International from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $64.25.

Albany International Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $54.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.78, a current ratio of 3.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.39.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 25th. The textile maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $239.92 million for the quarter. Albany International had a net margin of 5.25% and a return on equity of 8.87%. Analysts forecast that Albany International Corporation will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Albany International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -55.67%.

Insider Transactions at Albany International

In related news, CEO Gunnar Kleveland acquired 2,300 shares of Albany International stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $42.04 per share, with a total value of $96,692.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 19,895 shares in the company, valued at $836,385.80. This trade represents a 13.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AIN. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in Albany International by 2,241.2% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 398 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Albany International by 227.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 540 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albany International by 32.4% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 711 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albany International by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 908 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Albany International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.37% of the company’s stock.

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.