Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) Short Interest Down 13.2% in February

Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) saw a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 457,100 shares, a drop of 13.2% from the February 13th total of 526,500 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 194,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albany International

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Albany International by 515.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 480 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Albany International in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Albany International by 306.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 667 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc bought a new stake in Albany International in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Institutional investors own 97.37% of the company’s stock.

Albany International Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AIN traded up $0.58 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $74.47. 29,526 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 194,461. Albany International has a 52 week low of $67.39 and a 52 week high of $96.49. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $78.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.95.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The textile maker reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.05). Albany International had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The business had revenue of $286.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.52 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Albany International will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. Albany International’s payout ratio is 38.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered Albany International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Albany International from $104.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.00.

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.