Blair William & Co. IL Cuts Stock Position in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its stake in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 46.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,393 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 10,767 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.11% of Kadant worth $4,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Kadant by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 83,717 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,882,000 after buying an additional 18,995 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its position in shares of Kadant by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 34,289 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,829,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kadant by 128.6% in the fourth quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kadant by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,218,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $420,292,000 after purchasing an additional 243,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Kadant by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,557 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $410.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a report on Friday, February 14th.

Kadant Price Performance

NYSE:KAI opened at $337.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $366.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $360.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 35.59 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.29. Kadant Inc. has a one year low of $249.51 and a one year high of $429.95.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.17. Kadant had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.59%. Equities research analysts expect that Kadant Inc. will post 9.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. This is an increase from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.35%.

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.