JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Position in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 60.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 64,722 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 24,358 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Kadant were worth $21,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kadant in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Kadant during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Kadant during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Park Place Capital Corp increased its stake in Kadant by 68.6% during the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 204 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in Kadant in the third quarter valued at about $74,000. 96.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barrington Research lifted their price objective on shares of Kadant from $360.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Insider Activity at Kadant

In other Kadant news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 152 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $398.21, for a total transaction of $60,527.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,250 shares in the company, valued at $1,692,392.50. The trade was a 3.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rebecca Martinez O’mara sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.59, for a total value of $117,777.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,618.87. This trade represents a 18.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,052 shares of company stock valued at $416,655 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of KAI opened at $344.58 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $378.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $339.57. Kadant Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.51 and a fifty-two week high of $429.95. The company has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.27 and a beta of 1.28. 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 (NYSE:KAI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $271.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $266.38 million. Kadant had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 EPS for the current year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.