Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) Short Interest Update

Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 328,700 shares, an increase of 12.6% from the February 29th total of 291,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 125,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of Albany International from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Albany International in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Albany International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Albany International from $105.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.50.

Albany International Stock Performance

Shares of AIN stock opened at $93.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 2.85 and a current ratio of 3.53. Albany International has a one year low of $78.20 and a one year high of $99.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $92.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.26.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The textile maker reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.38. Albany International had a net margin of 9.68% and a return on equity of 13.70%. The company had revenue of $323.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $298.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Albany International’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Albany International will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Albany International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albany International

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AIN. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Albany International by 74.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 890,785 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $76,857,000 after purchasing an additional 379,367 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Albany International during the 4th quarter valued at $33,273,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Albany International by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 670,072 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $65,814,000 after acquiring an additional 181,814 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Albany International by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 359,905 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $35,350,000 after acquiring an additional 139,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Albany International by 189.5% during the 2nd quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 206,945 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $19,304,000 after acquiring an additional 135,472 shares during the last quarter. 97.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.