Royce & Associates LP Sells 35,689 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Royce & Associates LP cut its stake in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 14.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 205,629 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 35,689 shares during the quarter. Kadant accounts for about 0.7% of Royce & Associates LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Kadant were worth $70,940,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KAI. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in Kadant in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Kadant during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Kadant in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Kadant by 267.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant during the fourth quarter valued at about $85,000. 96.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kadant Stock Performance

Shares of Kadant stock opened at $352.23 on Friday. Kadant Inc. has a twelve month low of $249.51 and a twelve month high of $429.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s fifty day moving average is $368.35 and its 200 day moving average is $357.73.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.17. Kadant had a net margin of 10.59% and a return on equity of 14.66%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kadant Inc. will post 9.97 EPS for the current year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. This is a positive change from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Kadant’s payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research note on Friday, February 14th.

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.