Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Decreases Holdings in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lessened its stake in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 38.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 162 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 103 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Kadant were worth $56,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 5.2% in the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 5,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,510 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.1% in the third quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 4,178 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 0.7% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 7,156 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barrington Research lifted their target price on shares of Kadant from $360.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

Kadant Price Performance

KAI stock opened at $374.97 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $375.17 and a 200-day moving average of $344.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Kadant Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.51 and a 12 month high of $429.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.38 and a beta of 1.28.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.41. Kadant had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The company had revenue of $271.61 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $266.38 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. Kadant’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kadant

In other Kadant news, Director Rebecca Martinez O’mara sold 300 shares of Kadant stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 18.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Fredrik H. Westerhout sold 600 shares of Kadant stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.25, for a total transaction of $238,350.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,848.25. The trade was a 29.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,052 shares of company stock worth $416,655 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.