Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) Short Interest Up 11.2% in December

Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 606,100 shares, a growth of 11.2% from the December 15th total of 545,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 257,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Activity at Albany International

In related news, CEO Gunnar Kleveland purchased 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 8,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $590,235. This trade represents a 20.34 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Alan Hansen acquired 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $71.26 per share, with a total value of $74,823.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $597,657.62. The trade was a 14.31 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 3,450 shares of company stock worth $245,813. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albany International

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in Albany International by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,592,787 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $218,961,000 after buying an additional 53,743 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Albany International by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,218,058 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $108,544,000 after acquiring an additional 36,944 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Albany International by 5.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,091,660 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $92,192,000 after purchasing an additional 52,909 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albany International by 24.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Albany International by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 715,779 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $63,609,000 after purchasing an additional 8,356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Albany International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Albany International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.75.

Albany International Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:AIN traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $81.36. The company had a trading volume of 106,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 182,907. The firm has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.42 and a beta of 1.35. Albany International has a fifty-two week low of $67.39 and a fifty-two week high of $98.73. The business’s fifty day moving average is $81.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a current ratio of 3.68.

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

Albany International Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid 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 1.33%. This is a positive change from Albany International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Albany International’s payout ratio is presently 33.75%.

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.