New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Stake in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 260,506 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 25,431 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.83% of Albany International worth $20,833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Albany International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AIN opened at $79.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 3.68 and a quick ratio of 2.94. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $80.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.82. Albany International Corp. has a 1-year low of $67.39 and a 1-year high of $98.73.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen raised Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com raised Albany International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albany International currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.75.

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.