Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID Has $16.42 Million Stake in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID boosted its stake in Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,584 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,748 shares during the quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID owned 0.50% of Kadant worth $16,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in shares of Kadant during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in Kadant in the fourth quarter valued at $54,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Kadant in the fourth quarter valued at $165,000. Strs Ohio increased its stake in Kadant by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Argent Trust Co bought a new stake in Kadant during the 3rd quarter worth about $200,000. 96.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KAI. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Kadant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kadant news, Director Jonathan W. Painter sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $2,311,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,514,853.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Jonathan W. Painter sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $2,311,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,514,853.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.00, for a total transaction of $288,087.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,798 shares of company stock valued at $2,899,004. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Kadant Stock Performance

Shares of KAI stock opened at $282.37 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $312.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $281.37. Kadant Inc. has a one year low of $183.49 and a one year high of $354.02. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.52 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The industrial products company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.31. Kadant had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company had revenue of $238.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.54 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Kadant Inc. will post 9.96 EPS for the current year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Kadant’s payout ratio is currently 12.93%.

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.