ProShare Advisors LLC Has $6.11 Million Position in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 16.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 20,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,012 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kadant were worth $6,112,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KAI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 46.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 967,638 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $317,482,000 after purchasing an additional 306,352 shares during the period. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in shares of Kadant during the 1st quarter worth about $92,993,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 1,578.8% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 74,185 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,795,000 after acquiring an additional 69,766 shares during the last quarter. F M Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $13,495,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Kadant by 2,082.5% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 40,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,312,000 after acquiring an additional 38,506 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of KAI opened at $332.80 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $303.48. Kadant Inc. has a 52-week low of $214.21 and a 52-week high of $363.40. 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 has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a PE ratio of 34.67 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Kadant Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.