GAMMA Investing LLC Cuts Stake in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

GAMMA Investing LLC decreased its stake in shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) by 22.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 694 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 205 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Albany International were worth $55,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AIN. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Albany International by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,592,787 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $218,961,000 after buying an additional 53,743 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Albany International by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,218,058 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $108,544,000 after acquiring an additional 36,944 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Albany International by 5.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,091,660 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $92,192,000 after buying an additional 52,909 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albany International by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 847,829 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $75,330,000 after acquiring an additional 163,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Albany International by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 726,287 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $61,335,000 after acquiring an additional 24,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.37% of the company’s stock.

Albany International Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of Albany International stock opened at $78.54 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54 and a beta of 1.35. Albany International Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $67.39 and a fifty-two week high of $98.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a current ratio of 3.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.16.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.35. Albany International had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The firm had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $304.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Albany International Corp. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. This is a positive change from Albany International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.75%.

Insider Transactions at Albany International

In related news, VP Joseph M. Gaug bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.24 per share, with a total value of $71,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,215.64. This represents a 17.21 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Robert Alan Hansen bought 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $71.26 per share, with a total value of $74,823.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,387 shares in the company, valued at $597,657.62. The trade was a 14.31 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 3,450 shares of company stock worth $245,813 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Albany International from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Albany International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Albany International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.50.

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.