Quantbot Technologies LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 3,773.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,733 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,585 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Kadant were worth $1,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of KAI. Zhang Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Kadant by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 5,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,813,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Kadant by 1.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,510 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,483,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp increased its position in shares of Kadant by 7.5% in the third quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $281,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Kadant by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 2,239 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $772,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kadant by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 764 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Kadant Price Performance

KAI opened at $333.16 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $368.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $359.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14 and a beta of 1.25. Kadant Inc. has a twelve month low of $249.51 and a twelve month high of $429.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.17. Kadant had a net margin of 10.59% and a return on equity of 14.66%. 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. This is a positive change from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.35%.

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.