Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 326,800 shares, a growth of 11.5% from the July 31st total of 293,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 142,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Albany International from $104.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Albany International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Albany International from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albany International currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albany International

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its holdings in Albany International by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 217,465 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $21,359,000 after buying an additional 14,248 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Albany International by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 354,944 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $34,863,000 after purchasing an additional 18,459 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Albany International in the fourth quarter worth approximately $77,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Albany International by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,478 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Albany International by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 409,688 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $40,240,000 after purchasing an additional 40,627 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.37% of the company’s stock.

Albany International Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE AIN opened at $94.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.99, a quick ratio of 3.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Albany International has a 12-month low of $78.20 and a 12-month high of $99.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $88.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.26.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The textile maker reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $331.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $318.17 million. Albany International had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 13.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Albany International will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio is 29.21%.

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.