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 the month of 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. Based on an average trading volume of 194,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Albany International Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of AIN stock opened at $73.44 on Friday. Albany International has a fifty-two week low of $67.39 and a fifty-two week high of $96.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.95 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.87. The company has a quick ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Albany International Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Trading of Albany International

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in Albany International by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,218,058 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $108,544,000 after purchasing an additional 36,944 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Albany International by 14.0% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 36,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Albany International by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 715,779 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $63,609,000 after buying an additional 8,356 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.37% of the company’s stock.

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.