Albany International (NYSE:AIN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Albany International (NYSE:AIN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Albany International from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Albany International from $104.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Albany International from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.40.

Albany International Price Performance

Shares of AIN opened at $63.46 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $72.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83 and a beta of 1.29. Albany International has a 1-year low of $57.71 and a 1-year high of $95.47. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The textile maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.05). The firm 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albany International will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 21st. Albany International’s payout ratio is 38.71%.

Institutional Trading of Albany International

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AIN. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in Albany International during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Albany International by 306.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 667 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albany International by 735.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 752 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Albany International in the fourth quarter valued at about $70,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Albany International by 110.4% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 888 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 466 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.