Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 7,353 Shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN - Free Report) by 78.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund 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 reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AIN. Barclays PLC increased its position in Albany International by 305.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 53,227 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $4,728,000 after buying an additional 40,101 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in Albany International by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,004 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albany International by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,014 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Albany International by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,610 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Albany International by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,495 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.37% of the company's stock.

Albany International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIN traded up $2.15 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $67.49. 227,577 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 210,379. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.09 and a beta of 1.37. Albany International Corp. has a 52 week low of $57.71 and a 52 week high of $95.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.94, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company's 50 day moving average is $66.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.18.

Albany International (NYSE:AIN - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $288.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.74 million. Albany International had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 7.92%. Albany International's revenue for the quarter was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Albany International's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.