State Street Corp Buys 6,412 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 280,797 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 6,412 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 2.39% of Kadant worth $94,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KAI. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Kadant by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,349,437 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $396,438,000 after buying an additional 15,512 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 314,366 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $92,355,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Kadant by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 144,344 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $48,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Kadant by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 130,291 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $44,036,000 after purchasing an additional 2,068 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Kadant by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 122,624 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $41,447,000 after buying an additional 31,675 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $360.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Activity at Kadant

In related news, Director Rebecca Martinez O'mara sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.59, for a total value of $117,777.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at $507,618.87. This trade represents a 18.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 2,000 shares of Kadant stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.40, for a total transaction of $674,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,433,950. This trade represents a 32.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,052 shares of company stock valued at $1,091,455. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Kadant Price Performance

Kadant stock traded down $5.93 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $354.38. 159,028 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 83,237. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $369.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $331.69. Kadant Inc. has a 52-week low of $249.51 and a 52-week high of $429.95. The company has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.26 and a beta of 1.25. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $271.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $266.38 million. Kadant had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 15.10%. Kadant's quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Kadant's payout ratio is currently 13.10%.

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.