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

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.42, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $248.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.56 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.88% and a net margin of 11.53%. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.40 EPS.

Kadant Stock Down 4.5 %

KAI stock opened at $261.50 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $310.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $282.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24 and a beta of 1.30. Kadant has a one year low of $183.67 and a one year high of $354.02.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kadant’s payout ratio is currently 13.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jonathan W. Painter sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 7,615 shares in the company, valued at $2,514,853.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Jonathan W. Painter sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were 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 directly owns 7,615 shares in the company, valued at $2,514,853.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.00, for a total transaction of $288,087.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,798 shares of company stock valued at $2,899,004 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kadant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday.

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.