Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $165,000 Stake in Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

Lazard Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN - Free Report) by 78.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,071 shares of the textile maker's stock after selling 7,353 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Albany International were worth $165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Albany International by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 28,164 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $2,252,000 after buying an additional 4,307 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Albany International by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,493,846 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $279,403,000 after buying an additional 12,687 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Albany International during the fourth quarter worth about $521,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Albany International by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 304,875 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $24,381,000 after buying an additional 9,091 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Albany International during the fourth quarter worth about $19,349,000. 97.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Albany International from $88.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Albany International from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Albany International from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Albany International from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Albany International from $104.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albany International presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Albany International Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of AIN traded down $1.45 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $66.05. The stock had a trading volume of 90,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 209,924. 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 $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.13. Albany International Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $57.71 and a fifty-two week high of $95.47.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The textile maker reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.15. Albany International had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The company had revenue of $288.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Albany International Corp. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Albany International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Albany International's dividend payout ratio is 43.55%.

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.