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

Barrington Research reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Kadant (NYSE:KAI) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Barrington Research currently has a $360.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com cut Kadant from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th.

Kadant Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KAI opened at $287.12 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $311.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $282.12. Kadant has a fifty-two week low of $183.67 and a fifty-two week high of $354.02. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00 and a beta of 1.28. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The industrial products company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $227.54 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kadant will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 a boost 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.93%.

Insider Transactions at Kadant

In other news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 217 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total transaction of $70,266.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,587,814.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 217 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total value of $70,266.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,587,814.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was 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. Insiders have sold a total of 8,798 shares of company stock valued at $2,899,004 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kadant

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kadant by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 661,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $185,365,000 after buying an additional 2,885 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Kadant in the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,849,000. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Kadant by 17.5% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 154,252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,792,000 after acquiring an additional 22,978 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Kadant by 0.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 142,393 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,117,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc grew its position in shares of Kadant by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 118,583 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,240,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

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.