Clearbridge Investments LLC Buys 36,254 Shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 598,038 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,254 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 1.92% of Albany International worth $58,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Albany International during the fourth quarter worth about $33,273,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new stake in Albany International in the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,803,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Albany International by 81.2% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 284,006 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $24,504,000 after acquiring an additional 127,295 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Albany International by 206.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 104,601 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $9,025,000 after acquiring an additional 70,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Albany International by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 488,258 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $42,127,000 after acquiring an additional 55,021 shares during the last quarter. 97.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Albany International from $98.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Albany International in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Albany International from $121.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Albany International from $106.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gunnar Kleveland purchased 1,250 shares of Albany International stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $84.68 per share, with a total value of $105,850.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,884 shares in the company, valued at $582,937.12. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Robert D. Starr acquired 1,000 shares of Albany International stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $84.44 per share, with a total value of $84,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,610 shares in the company, valued at $220,388.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gunnar Kleveland bought 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $84.68 per share, for a total transaction of $105,850.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $582,937.12. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Albany International Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE AIN opened at $90.19 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $89.52 and its 200 day moving average is $90.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 3.99 and a quick ratio of 3.20. Albany International Corp. has a 1 year low of $78.20 and a 1 year high of $99.41.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The textile maker reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $313.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.41 million. Albany International had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 13.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Albany International Corp. will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.21%.

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.