Prudential Financial Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN - Free Report) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,738 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 4,976 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.10% of Albany International worth $2,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Albany International by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 28,164 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $2,252,000 after acquiring an additional 4,307 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Albany International by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,493,846 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $279,403,000 after purchasing an additional 12,687 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albany International by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 82,625 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $6,608,000 after purchasing an additional 17,409 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Albany International by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $1,178,000 after buying an additional 5,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Albany International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $521,000. 97.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Albany International Price Performance

Albany International stock traded down $0.52 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.79. The company had a trading volume of 263,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 200,168. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $74.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a PE ratio of 18.69 and a beta of 1.29. Albany International Corp. has a 1-year low of $57.71 and a 1-year high of $95.47.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The textile maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.05). Albany International had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The company had revenue of $286.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.52 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albany International Corp. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 21st. Albany International's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AIN shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Albany International to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered Albany International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Albany International from $104.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Albany International from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $82.00.

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.