Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Position Raised by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 23,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.20% of Kadant worth $7,969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in Kadant in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kadant during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kadant during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Kadant by 267.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kadant during the fourth quarter valued at about $85,000. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Kadant Price Performance

NYSE:KAI opened at $333.16 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $368.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $358.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.14 and a beta of 1.25. Kadant Inc. has a 52-week low of $249.51 and a 52-week 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.

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

Kadant Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Kadant’s payout ratio is presently 14.35%.

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.