Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.42 EPS

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.42, Briefing.com reports. Kadant had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 12.12%. The business had revenue of $248.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. Kadant’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Kadant Price Performance

NYSE KAI traded down $12.19 on Wednesday, hitting $261.60. 206,173 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 93,680. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $311.80 and a 200-day moving average of $282.12. 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 has a 52 week low of $183.67 and a 52 week high of $354.02. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.02 and a beta of 1.27.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This is a boost from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kadant news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the company’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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 217 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total value of $70,266.77. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,080 shares in the company, valued at $3,587,814.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was 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 worth $2,899,004 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.