Albany International (NYSE:AIN) Stock Price Up 5.1% – Time to Buy?

Albany International Corporation (NYSE:AIN)’s share price traded up 5.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $44.24 and last traded at $44.3110. 592,120 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 103% from the average session volume of 292,268 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.15.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AIN. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Albany International from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Albany International in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Albany International from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Albany International from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Albany International from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albany International currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $64.25.

Albany International Stock Up 5.1%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $54.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.78, a current ratio of 3.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 25th. The textile maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $239.92 million for the quarter. Albany International had a net margin of 5.25% and a return on equity of 8.87%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albany International Corporation will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Albany International’s payout ratio is currently -55.67%.

Insider Activity at Albany International

In related news, CEO Gunnar Kleveland acquired 2,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $42.04 per share, with a total value of $96,692.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 19,895 shares in the company, valued at $836,385.80. The trade was a 13.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AIN. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of Albany International during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,072,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Albany International by 173.0% during the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 162,908 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,683,000 after buying an additional 103,231 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Albany International by 341.8% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 60,025 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 46,438 shares in the last quarter. Numerai GP LLC bought a new position in shares of Albany International during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,658,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Albany International by 1,078.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 313,830 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $16,727,000 after acquiring an additional 287,200 shares during the period. 97.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.