Albany International Corporation (NYSE:AIN) Short Interest Down 16.9% in March

Key Points

• Short interest down 16.9% in March to 527,883 shares (about 1.9% of shares sold short), with a days-to-cover of 1.6 based on average daily volume.
• Analysts are cautious: MarketBeat's consensus rating is "Reduce" (four Hold, two Sell) with a $61.50 consensus target; recent notes include Zacks moving to Hold and JPMorgan raising its price objective to $47.
• Albany reported Q4 EPS of $0.65 beating estimates and revenue of $321.2M, trades near $55.78 (market cap ~$1.58B), set Q1 2026 guidance of $0.50–$0.60 EPS, and pays a $0.28 quarterly dividend (≈2.0% yield).

Albany International Corporation (NYSE:AIN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 527,883 shares, a drop of 16.9% from the March 15th total of 635,473 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 336,594 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AIN. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Albany International from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Albany International from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Albany International in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Albany International in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albany International has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $61.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albany International

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Albany International by 227.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 540 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Albany International by 32.4% in the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 711 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in Albany International by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 712 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Albany International by 42.3% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 908 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albany International in the second quarter valued at about $77,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.37% of the company's stock.

Albany International Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE:AIN traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $55.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 162,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 294,832. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.61, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.93. Albany International has a 1 year low of $41.15 and a 1 year high of $73.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The textile maker reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $321.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $292.32 million. Albany International had a negative net margin of 4.85% and a positive return on equity of 9.64%. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. Albany International has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.600 EPS. Research analysts expect that Albany International will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albany International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 20th. Albany International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -55.45%.

Albany International Company Profile

Albany International Corp. is a global advanced materials company specializing in engineered textiles and composites. Its business is organized into two primary segments: Process Media and Engineered Composites. The Process Media segment designs, manufactures and services press, forming and drying fabrics used in the production of paper and packaging materials, helping paper manufacturers improve efficiency, quality and sustainability. The Engineered Composites segment produces lightweight composite structures and components for aerospace and industrial applications, serving commercial and military aircraft programs as well as industrial markets that require high-performance, durable materials.

In the Process Media segment, Albany's products include forming fabrics, press felts and dryer fabrics engineered to withstand extreme moisture and temperature conditions.

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