Insider Selling: Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Director Sells 152 Shares of Stock

Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 152 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $398.21, for a total transaction of $60,527.92. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,692,392.50. The trade was a 3.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Kadant Trading Down 0.7 %

KAI stock opened at $392.76 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $343.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $315.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Kadant Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.51 and a fifty-two week high of $422.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.20 and a beta of 1.21.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.41. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 11.12%. The business had revenue of $271.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $266.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 9th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is 13.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kadant

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kadant in the 1st quarter valued at $209,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,005 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,642,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kadant by 46.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 967,638 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $317,482,000 after purchasing an additional 306,352 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Kadant by 31,600.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kadant during the first quarter worth $221,000. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Kadant from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

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.