488,237 Shares in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) Bought by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 488,237 shares of the textile maker's stock, valued at approximately $39,044,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.56% of Albany International at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AIN. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in Albany International by 14.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 6,167 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in Albany International by 47.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 18,113 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $1,609,000 after buying an additional 5,802 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in Albany International during the third quarter valued at about $308,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Albany International by 515.4% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 480 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Albany International by 14.8% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 4,171 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. 97.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. TD Cowen raised shares of Albany International to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Albany International from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Albany International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $82.00.

Albany International Stock Down 2.3 %

NYSE:AIN traded down $1.54 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $64.85. The stock had a trading volume of 24,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 229,956. The business's 50 day moving average is $74.27 and its 200 day moving average is $77.73. Albany International Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $57.71 and a fifty-two week high of $95.47. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27 and a beta of 1.29. 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 (NYSE:AIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The textile maker reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.05). Albany International had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 7.92%. The firm had revenue of $286.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.52 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Albany International Corp. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 21st. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. Albany International's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.71%.

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.