Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Stake in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,853,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kadant during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Kadant by 267.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 103 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors increased its position in Kadant by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 150 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Kadant by 348.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 242 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Kadant in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $111,000. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Kadant from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kadant from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Kadant Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of Kadant stock traded up $11.11 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $333.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 41,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 117,065. Kadant Inc has a one year low of $281.30 and a one year high of $429.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.40 and a beta of 1.25. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $318.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $336.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 2.47.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.13. Kadant had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 13.74%. The business had revenue of $239.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.38 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Kadant Inc will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Kadant's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.44%.

Kadant announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Kadant 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.