Albany International (NYSE:AIN) Upgraded at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Albany International (NYSE:AIN) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on AIN. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Albany International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Albany International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Albany International from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.50.

Albany International Stock Performance

AIN opened at $81.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.37 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $78.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.65. Albany International has a 1-year low of $67.39 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $298.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $304.51 million. Albany International had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 7.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Albany International will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Albany International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Joseph M. Gaug bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $71.24 per share, for a total transaction of $71,240.00. Following the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 6,811 shares in the company, valued at $485,215.64. This trade represents a 17.21 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Alan Hansen purchased 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.26 per share, for a total transaction of $74,823.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,657.62. This trade represents a 14.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 3,450 shares of company stock worth $245,813 over the last quarter. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Albany International by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,018 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Albany International by 2.0% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,744 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $738,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Albany International by 1.3% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,700 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albany International by 0.4% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 52,600 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $4,442,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Albany International by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,212 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. 97.37% of the stock is owned by 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.