Albany International (NYSE:AIN) Price Target Cut to $74.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. 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 report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Albany International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albany International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.75.

Albany International Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of AIN opened at $80.35 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a current ratio of 3.68. Albany International has a 1 year low of $67.39 and a 1 year high of $98.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 25.11 and a beta of 1.35.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.35. Albany International had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 7.92%. The firm had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $304.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. Albany International’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Albany International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Albany International’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Joseph M. Gaug bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.24 per share, for a total transaction of $71,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,811 shares in the company, valued at $485,215.64. The trade was a 17.21 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gunnar Kleveland acquired 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $71.25 per share, for a total transaction of $99,750.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 8,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $590,235. The trade was a 20.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 3,450 shares of company stock worth $245,813 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Albany International

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Albany International by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,218,058 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $108,544,000 after acquiring an additional 36,944 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in Albany International in the 3rd quarter valued at $800,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albany International by 5.4% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 239,697 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $21,297,000 after purchasing an additional 12,262 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Albany International by 14.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 80,618 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $7,163,000 after buying an additional 9,931 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albany International by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 586,268 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $52,071,000 after buying an additional 36,274 shares during the period. 97.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.