Wesbanco Bank Inc. Buys 740 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its stake in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) by 87.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,590 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 740 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in Kadant were worth $549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KAI. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 144,344 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $48,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Dudley & Shanley Inc. grew its holdings in Kadant by 196.7% in the 3rd quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 32,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $10,985,000 after buying an additional 21,545 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Kadant by 133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,066 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,752 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Kadant by 120.1% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $546,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp acquired a new position in Kadant during the 3rd quarter worth $585,000. 96.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kadant

In other news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 152 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $398.21, for a total value of $60,527.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,250 shares of the company's stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Fredrik H. Westerhout sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.25, for a total value of $238,350.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,437 shares in the company, valued at $570,848.25. The trade was a 29.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,052 shares of company stock valued at $416,655 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barrington Research raised their price target on Kadant from $360.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of Kadant stock traded down $0.78 on Friday, hitting $377.24. The company had a trading volume of 55,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 86,371. 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 $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.61 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $374.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $345.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $271.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $266.38 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 11.12%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Research analysts expect that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Kadant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.10%.

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.