King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 1,347 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its holdings in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 15.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,108 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,347 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Kadant were worth $2,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KAI. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Kadant by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 718 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Kadant by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 3,279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argent Trust Co raised its stake in Kadant by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 1,121 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KAI opened at $332.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $320.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $303.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.69 and a beta of 1.21. Kadant Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $214.21 and a fifty-two week high of $363.40.

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

Kadant Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. 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.