JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Albany International (NYSE:AIN) Price Target to $74.00

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) had its price objective lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $75.00 to $74.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the textile maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AIN. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen raised Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut Albany International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Albany International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.75.

Albany International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIN opened at $81.36 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $81.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.07. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42 and a beta of 1.35. Albany International has a 12 month low of $67.39 and a 12 month high of $98.73.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.35. Albany International had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 7.92%. The company had revenue of $298.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $304.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Albany International will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. This is a positive change from Albany International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Albany International’s payout ratio is presently 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 bought at an average price of $71.24 per share, for a total transaction of $71,240.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,811 shares in the company, valued at $485,215.64. This represents a 17.21 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Robert Alan Hansen purchased 1,050 shares of the 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 acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 8,387 shares in the company, valued at $597,657.62. This represents a 14.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 3,450 shares of company stock worth $245,813. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Albany International by 515.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 480 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Albany International by 33.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 899 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Albany International by 28.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,058 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its stake in shares of Albany International by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 1,985 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Albany International during the 3rd quarter valued at $206,000. 97.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.