GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 81,478 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) by 150,885.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 81,532 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 81,478 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC owned 0.69% of Kadant worth $27,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 13,029 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $4,495,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Kadant by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 76,714 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $26,466,000 after purchasing an additional 13,441 shares during the period. Man Group plc boosted its holdings in Kadant by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 19,448 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,709,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in shares of Kadant during the 4th quarter valued at $690,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,674 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on KAI. Wall Street Zen raised Kadant from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Kadant from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of Kadant stock traded up $6.00 on Friday, hitting $329.55. 77,604 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 113,047. Kadant Inc. has a 12-month low of $269.75 and a 12-month high of $429.95. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $311.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $348.50. The company has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.76 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.13. Kadant had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.59%. The business had revenue of $239.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.38 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Kadant Inc. will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Kadant's dividend payout ratio is currently 14.44%.

Kadant declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Kadant Company Profile

Kadant Inc supplies technologies and engineered systems worldwide. It operates in three segments: Flow Control, Industrial Processing, and Material Handling. The Flow Control segment develops, manufactures, and markets fluid-handling systems and equipment, such as rotary joints, syphons, turbulator bars, expansion joints, and engineered steam and condensate systems; and doctoring, cleaning, and filtration systems and related consumables consisting of doctor systems and holders, doctor blades, cleaning shower and fabric-conditioning systems, forming systems and wear surfaces, and water-filtration systems.