Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Boosts Stock Position in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 314,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,700 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Kadant were worth $92,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. purchased a new position in Kadant in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Kadant by 31,600.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Kadant in the first quarter valued at about $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Kadant from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Friday, September 20th.

Kadant Price Performance

KAI stock opened at $339.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.41 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $320.47 and a 200-day moving average of $303.27. Kadant Inc. has a 12-month low of $214.21 and a 12-month high of $363.40.

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

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Kadant’s payout ratio is currently 13.33%.

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.