Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Receives “Outperform” Rating from William Blair

William Blair reissued their outperform rating on shares of Kadant (NYSE:KAI) in a research note released on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports. William Blair also issued estimates for Kadant’s Q2 2024 earnings at $2.47 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $2.66 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $2.54 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $10.05 EPS.

KAI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barrington Research reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $360.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded Kadant from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th.

Kadant Trading Up 2.2 %

KAI traded up $5.83 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $272.69. 100,194 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 96,800. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.41 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $308.73 and its 200 day moving average is $282.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Kadant has a 12 month low of $186.95 and a 12 month high of $354.02.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.42. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.88% and a net margin of 11.53%. The firm had revenue of $248.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Kadant will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This is an increase from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kadant’s payout ratio is presently 13.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.00, for a total value of $288,087.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.00, for a total transaction of $228,900.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $288,087. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.00, for a total value of $288,087.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,798 shares of company stock valued at $2,899,004 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Kadant by 137.9% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 82,151 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,028,000 after buying an additional 47,618 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Kadant by 0.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 658,401 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $148,502,000 after acquiring an additional 4,529 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Kadant by 640.8% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,119 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,556,000 after purchasing an additional 7,888 shares in the last quarter. 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 period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 27.1% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 50,858 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,415,000 after purchasing an additional 10,858 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.