Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,649 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $892,000.
Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kadant by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,218,273 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $420,292,000 after buying an additional 243,267 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kadant in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,529,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kadant in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,400,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Kadant by 97.9% in the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 221,209 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $74,528,000 after acquiring an additional 109,439 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Kadant by 150,885.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 81,532 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $27,469,000 after acquiring an additional 81,478 shares during the period. 96.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Kadant Stock Performance
Kadant stock traded up $7.73 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $325.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 115,415. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $314.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $337.71. The company has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59 and a beta of 1.25. 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 1-year low of $281.30 and a 1-year high of $429.95.
Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $239.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $239.41 million. Kadant had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 13.74%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kadant Inc will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current year.
Kadant announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Kadant Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Kadant's dividend payout ratio is 14.44%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages have recently commented on KAI. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Kadant from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kadant from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Kadant
Kadant Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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