Diversified Trust Co Decreases Stock Position in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Diversified Trust Co reduced its position in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 54.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 611 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 725 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Kadant were worth $211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAI. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kadant by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,349,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $396,438,000 after acquiring an additional 15,512 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Kadant by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 314,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $92,355,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Kadant by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 280,797 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $94,909,000 after acquiring an additional 6,412 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Kadant by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 144,344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $48,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Kadant by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 130,291 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,036,000 after acquiring an additional 2,068 shares during the period. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kadant Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Kadant stock opened at $340.42 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.84 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $378.38 and a 200 day moving average of $340.75. Kadant Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.51 and a fifty-two week high of $429.95.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $271.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $266.38 million. Kadant had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 15.10%. Kadant’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is 13.10%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Fredrik H. Westerhout sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.25, for a total value of $238,350.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,848.25. This represents a 29.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rebecca Martinez O’mara sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.59, for a total transaction of $117,777.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,293 shares in the company, valued at $507,618.87. This trade represents a 18.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,052 shares of company stock worth $416,655. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barrington Research boosted their price objective on shares of Kadant from $360.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

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.