Short Interest in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) Grows By 11.2%

Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 606,100 shares, a growth of 11.2% from the December 15th total of 545,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 257,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Albany International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Albany International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.75.

Albany International Stock Performance

Shares of Albany International stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $81.36. The company had a trading volume of 106,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 182,907. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 3.68 and a quick ratio of 2.94. Albany International has a one year low of $67.39 and a one year high of $98.73. The firm has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 25.42 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.07.

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. Albany International had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $304.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Albany International will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. This is an increase from Albany International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.75%.

Insider Activity at Albany International

In other Albany International news, CEO Gunnar Kleveland acquired 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $71.25 per share, with a total value of $99,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 8,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $590,235. This trade represents a 20.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Robert Alan Hansen acquired 1,050 shares of Albany International stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $71.26 per share, with a total value of $74,823.00. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,387 shares in the company, 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. In the last three months, insiders purchased 3,450 shares of company stock valued at $245,813. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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