Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN - Free Report) by 6.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 586,268 shares of the textile maker's stock after buying an additional 36,274 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 1.87% of Albany International worth $52,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Albany International by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 715,779 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $63,609,000 after acquiring an additional 8,356 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Albany International by 305.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 53,227 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $4,728,000 after purchasing an additional 40,101 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Albany International by 58.1% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 9,122 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $810,000 after purchasing an additional 3,352 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in Albany International by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 38,753 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $3,443,000 after buying an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Albany International by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,218,058 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $108,544,000 after buying an additional 36,944 shares during the period. 97.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Joseph M. Gaug acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were acquired 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 owns 6,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,215.64. The trade was a 17.21 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gunnar Kleveland bought 1,400 shares of Albany International stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $71.25 per share, with a total value of $99,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 3,450 shares of company stock valued at $245,813. Insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AIN shares. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Albany International from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America reduced their price target 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 upgraded shares of Albany International from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Albany International to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Albany International currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $85.50.

Albany International Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE:AIN traded down $1.28 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $79.90. 230,695 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 174,584. Albany International Corp. has a one year low of $67.39 and a one year high of $99.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a PE ratio of 24.97 and a beta of 1.34. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $78.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.57.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $298.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $304.51 million. Albany International had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The firm's revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Albany International Corp. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Albany International Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Albany International's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Albany International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.75%.

Albany International 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.