Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 17,108 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its holdings in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 17,108 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Kadant were worth $66,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dudley & Shanley Inc. boosted its stake in Kadant by 196.7% in the third quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 32,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,985,000 after buying an additional 21,545 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Kadant by 60.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 64,722 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $21,876,000 after purchasing an additional 24,358 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Kadant during the 3rd quarter valued at $585,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in Kadant by 54.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 504 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Kadant in the fourth quarter worth $464,000. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kadant Stock Performance

Shares of KAI stock opened at $313.33 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.29. Kadant Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.51 and a fifty-two week high of $429.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.05 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $338.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $357.73.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts expect that Kadant Inc. will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This is an increase from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Kadant’s payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Friday.

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.