Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 1,531 Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P decreased its stake in shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 131,449 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,531 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 1.12% of Kadant worth $44,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in KAI. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Kadant during the third quarter worth $25,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Kadant in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its stake in Kadant by 68.6% in the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 204 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in Kadant during the third quarter worth about $74,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Kadant from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Fredrik H. Westerhout sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 $570,848.25. This represents a 29.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 152 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $398.21, for a total value of $60,527.92. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,692,392.50. This trade represents a 3.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,052 shares of company stock valued at $1,091,455. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kadant Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of KAI stock opened at $419.27 on Tuesday. Kadant Inc. has a 12-month low of $249.51 and a 12-month high of $429.95. The company has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a PE ratio of 42.91 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $349.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $318.89. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.41. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 11.12%. The business had revenue of $271.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $266.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.10%.

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.