Essex Financial Services Inc. Sells 714 Shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lessened its holdings in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,428 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 714 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Albany International were worth $594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in Albany International by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,218,058 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $108,544,000 after acquiring an additional 36,944 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albany International in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $800,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Albany International by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 80,618 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $7,163,000 after purchasing an additional 9,931 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albany International by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 239,697 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $21,297,000 after buying an additional 12,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albany International by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 586,268 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $52,071,000 after buying an additional 36,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.37% of the company’s stock.

Albany International Stock Performance

Albany International stock opened at $79.45 on Thursday. Albany International Corp. has a 12-month low of $67.39 and a 12-month high of $98.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.83 and a beta of 1.34.

Albany International Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. This is a positive change from Albany International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AIN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America dropped their target price 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. TD Cowen raised shares of Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Albany International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Albany International has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.75.

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.