Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Acquires New Holdings in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 777,548 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $62,181,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albany International by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,493,846 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $279,403,000 after acquiring an additional 12,687 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Albany International by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,218,058 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $108,544,000 after purchasing an additional 36,944 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Albany International by 3,380.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 849,379 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $67,925,000 after purchasing an additional 824,975 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Albany International by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 729,377 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $58,328,000 after buying an additional 47,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Albany International by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 715,779 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $63,609,000 after buying an additional 8,356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.37% of the company’s stock.

Albany International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIN opened at $61.58 on Friday. Albany International Corp. has a 1 year low of $60.21 and a 1 year high of $95.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.52. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24 and a beta of 1.29.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The textile maker reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $286.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.52 million. Albany International had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 12.20%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Albany International Corp. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. Albany International’s dividend payout ratio is 38.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Albany International from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. TD Cowen raised Albany International to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Albany International from $104.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Albany International from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Albany International from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.00.

Albany International Company 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.