Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Purchases Shares of 2,649 Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,649 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kadant during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 267.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 103 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Kadant by 348.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 242 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Kadant during the first quarter worth $111,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Kadant by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 442 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KAI shares. Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Kadant from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kadant from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th.

Kadant Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KAI traded up $9.62 on Thursday, reaching $339.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 151,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 152,706. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.62. Kadant Inc has a 52-week low of $281.30 and a 52-week high of $429.95. The stock's 50-day moving average is $315.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $337.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.03 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Kadant Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Kadant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.44%.

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