Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Stock Gets Downgrade from Wall Street Zen

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

KAI has been the subject of several other research reports. DA Davidson upped their price target on Kadant from $306.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Kadant from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $357.50.

Kadant Stock Performance

Shares of KAI stock opened at $293.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.66 and a beta of 1.19. Kadant has a 52-week low of $244.87 and a 52-week high of $354.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $274.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $306.05. The company has a quick ratio of 5.26, a current ratio of 8.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The industrial products company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.64. Kadant had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 9.81%. The firm had revenue of $313.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $302.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kadant will post 12.64 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kadant

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant during the 2nd quarter worth $565,205,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Kadant in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,994,000. Grandeur Peak Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 85.8% in the 2nd quarter. Grandeur Peak Global Advisors LLC now owns 211,036 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $66,314,000 after purchasing an additional 97,433 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the second quarter valued at about $28,773,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the second quarter valued at about $25,923,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Company Profile

Kadant Inc is a global supplier of technologies and engineered systems used in industrial processing and papermaking. Its products help customers manage fluids, process materials, and improve the efficiency of manufacturing operations.

The company’s offerings include fluid-handling equipment such as rotary joints, syphons, and expansion joints; doctoring, cleaning, and filtration systems; and equipment for stock preparation and paper recycling. Kadant also provides material-processing technologies for applications including packaging, tissue, corrugated products, and other industrial markets.

Kadant serves customers around the world through operations in North America, Europe, and Asia.