King Luther Capital Management Corp Reduces Stock Position in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI)

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its stake in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 22.2%, now holding 4,970 shares valued at approximately $1.67 million.
• Kadant has initiated a $50 million stock buyback plan, allowing it to repurchase up to 1.3% of its outstanding shares, indicating leadership believes shares are undervalued.
• The company reported EPS of $2.31 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, but experienced a 7.3% year-over-year revenue decline.

King Luther Capital Management Corp cut its holdings in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) by 22.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,970 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,422 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp's holdings in Kadant were worth $1,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Kadant by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,557 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Kadant by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 14,051 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,847,000 after buying an additional 1,678 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Kadant by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,021 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,732,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kadant by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,970 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $13,099,000 after buying an additional 2,767 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of Kadant by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,187 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KAI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Kadant from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Kadant from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th.

Kadant Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of KAI stock traded down $0.75 on Friday, reaching $339.95. 110,382 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 104,313. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.86 and a beta of 1.24. Kadant Inc has a 12-month low of $281.30 and a 12-month high of $429.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.38. The business's 50 day moving average price is $327.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $333.13.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.37. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.62% and a net margin of 10.34%. The company had revenue of $255.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.81 EPS. The company's revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Kadant Inc will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Kadant

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.