33,859 Shares in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Purchased by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 33,859 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,345,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KAI. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant during the third quarter worth approximately $317,000. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Kadant in the third quarter worth about $644,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kadant during the third quarter worth about $183,000. Hardy Reed LLC acquired a new stake in Kadant in the 3rd quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kadant by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of KAI stock opened at $412.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 42.25 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $355.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $322.19. Kadant Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.51 and a 12 month high of $429.95.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $271.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $266.38 million. Kadant had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. Analysts predict that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kadant news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 152 shares of Kadant stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 4,250 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rebecca Martinez O’mara sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.59, for a total transaction of $117,777.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $507,618.87. The trade was a 18.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,052 shares of company stock valued at $1,091,455. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.