State Street Corp Buys 6,412 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 2.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 280,797 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,412 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in Kadant were worth $94,909,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Kadant in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kadant during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Kadant by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 204 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in Kadant in the 3rd quarter worth $74,000. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in Kadant by 226.2% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. 96.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kadant news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 152 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $398.21, for a total value of $60,527.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,692,392.50. This trade represents a 3.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rebecca Martinez O’mara sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.59, for a total value of $117,777.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,618.87. This represents a 18.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,052 shares of company stock worth $1,091,455. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Stock Performance

KAI opened at $360.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.88 and a beta of 1.25. Kadant Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.51 and a fifty-two week high of $429.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $369.61 and a 200 day moving average of $331.69.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.41. Kadant had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The firm had revenue of $271.61 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $266.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. Kadant’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. Kadant’s payout ratio is 13.10%.

Kadant Company 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.