Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Short Interest Up 32.8% in February

Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a growth of 32.8% from the February 13th total of 1,160,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 159,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.7 days. Currently, 13.3% of the company's stock are short sold.

Kadant Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE KAI traded up $0.24 on Thursday, reaching $341.60. The stock had a trading volume of 185,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 97,005. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $368.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $358.29. 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 has a 1 year low of $249.51 and a 1 year high of $429.95. The company has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03 and a beta of 1.25.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.17. Kadant had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.59%. On average, analysts forecast that Kadant will post 9.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Kadant's dividend payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 1,761 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $608,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,187 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $410,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 5,256 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,813,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,510 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,483,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 7,156 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,419,000 after acquiring an additional 48 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 reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $410.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

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.