Xponance Inc. Purchases 78 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 845 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Kadant were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KAI. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Kadant in the third quarter worth approximately $806,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Kadant by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 121,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,979,000 after purchasing an additional 2,141 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Kadant by 223.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 14,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,034,000 after purchasing an additional 10,283 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in Kadant during the third quarter valued at about $538,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Kadant by 1.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 144,344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,788,000 after buying an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Stock Up 1.9 %

KAI opened at $351.95 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.13 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $367.22 and its 200 day moving average is $359.47.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kadant Inc. will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.