Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Short Interest Up 32.8% in February

Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a growth of 32.8% from the February 13th total of 1,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 159,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.7 days. Currently, 13.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kadant

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in Kadant by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 13,029 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Kadant by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 76,714 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,466,000 after acquiring an additional 13,441 shares during the period. Man Group plc boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 19,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,709,000 after buying an additional 1,760 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in shares of Kadant during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $690,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,674 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kadant Trading Down 2.4 %

KAI stock traded down $8.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $346.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 69,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 172,164. The company has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.50 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $368.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $358.25. 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 has a 12 month low of $249.51 and a 12 month high of $429.95.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The industrial products company reported $2.25 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Kadant will post 9.97 EPS for the current year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This is an increase from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Kadant’s payout ratio is presently 14.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.