Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Rating Reiterated by William Blair

William Blair reissued their outperform rating on shares of Kadant (NYSE:KAI) in a research report sent to investors 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.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Barrington Research restated an outperform rating and set a $360.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded Kadant from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th.

Kadant Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE KAI traded up $5.83 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $272.69. The company had a trading volume of 100,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 96,800. Kadant has a one year low of $186.95 and a one year high of $354.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $308.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $282.19. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.41 and a beta of 1.30.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $248.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. Kadant’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kadant will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kadant news, Director Jonathan W. Painter sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total transaction of $2,311,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,514,853.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jonathan W. Painter sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.25, for a total value of $2,311,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,514,853.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,798 shares of company stock worth $2,899,004. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kadant

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KAI. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 66,615 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,025,000 after buying an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Kadant by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 154,252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,792,000 after purchasing an additional 22,978 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kadant during the 3rd quarter valued at $695,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Kadant by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,713 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $837,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC boosted its stake in Kadant by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 30,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,915,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.