Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Purchases 15,512 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,349,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,512 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned approximately 11.49% of Kadant worth $396,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,154 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kadant during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 4th quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Kadant during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,917,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on KAI shares. DA Davidson increased their target price on Kadant from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday.

Kadant Stock Performance

Shares of KAI opened at $332.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.67 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $320.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $303.42. Kadant Inc. has a 12 month low of $214.21 and a 12 month high of $363.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $275.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.50 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.48% and a net margin of 11.35%. Kadant’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.54 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Kadant Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.33%.

Kadant Company 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.