Kadant’s (KAI) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Barrington Research

Barrington Research restated their outperform rating on shares of Kadant (NYSE:KAI) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $360.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

Separately, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Kadant from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Kadant Stock Performance

NYSE:KAI opened at $335.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.54 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Kadant has a 1 year low of $217.85 and a 1 year high of $363.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $322.86 and a 200-day moving average of $305.30.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.41. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.48% and a net margin of 11.35%. The firm had revenue of $271.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $266.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kadant will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.17%.

Insider Activity at Kadant

In other Kadant news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.40, for a total transaction of $674,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,433,950. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kadant

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.2% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,349,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $396,438,000 after purchasing an additional 15,512 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kadant by 46.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 967,638 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $317,482,000 after buying an additional 306,352 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 314,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $92,355,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $92,993,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Kadant by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 84,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,712,000 after acquiring an additional 5,167 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

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.