Insider Selling: Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Director Sells 300 Shares of Stock

Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) Director Rebecca Martinez O’mara sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.59, for a total transaction of $117,777.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $507,618.87. The trade was a 18.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of KAI opened at $392.76 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $343.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.87. Kadant Inc. has a twelve month low of $249.51 and a twelve month high of $422.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Kadant Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kadant

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Kadant by 46.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 967,638 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $317,482,000 after purchasing an additional 306,352 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in shares of Kadant in the first quarter valued at approximately $92,993,000. F M Investments LLC acquired a new position in Kadant in the 2nd quarter valued at $13,495,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Kadant during the 3rd quarter worth $11,345,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant during the third quarter worth $11,206,000. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on KAI. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Kadant from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research 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.