Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Short Interest Up 6.2% in September

Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, an increase of 6.2% from the September 15th total of 1,450,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 69,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 22.2 days.

Kadant Trading Down 0.0 %

KAI opened at $334.67 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.86 and a beta of 1.21. Kadant has a 12 month low of $214.21 and a 12 month high of $363.40. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $319.66 and a 200 day moving average of $304.24.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.38. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.48% and a net margin of 11.35%. The business had revenue of $275.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kadant will post 9.93 EPS for the current 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KAI. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday, September 20th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Kadant from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kadant

In other news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.40, for a total transaction of $674,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,250 shares in the company, valued at $1,433,950. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of KAI. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kadant during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $392,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kadant by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 661,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $185,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,885 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of Kadant by 266.9% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 4,630 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,298,000 after acquiring an additional 3,368 shares in the last quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID raised its stake in shares of Kadant by 2.8% during the first quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID now owns 60,228 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $19,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Kadant by 14.1% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 25,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,268,000 after acquiring an additional 3,118 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

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.