William Blair Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Kadant (NYSE:KAI)

Kadant (NYSE:KAI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at William Blair in a report 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.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on KAI. StockNews.com cut shares of Kadant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday.

Kadant Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE KAI traded up $5.83 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $272.69. The stock had a trading volume of 100,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 96,800. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $308.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $282.19. The firm has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41 and a beta of 1.30. Kadant has a 52-week low of $186.95 and a 52-week high of $354.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jonathan W. Painter sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 7,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,514,853.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Jonathan W. Painter sold 7,000 shares of Kadant 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 sale, the director now directly owns 7,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,514,853.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 217 shares of the 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,798 shares of company stock valued at $2,899,004 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kadant

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Kadant by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 661,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $185,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,885 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the third quarter valued at approximately $110,849,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 17.5% in the third 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. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its stake in Kadant by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 118,583 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,240,000 after buying an additional 16,541 shares during the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.