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

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

Kadant Price Performance

NYSE KAI opened at $273.79 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $311.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $282.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.66 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Kadant has a 1-year low of $183.67 and a 1-year high of $354.02.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a boost from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on KAI shares. StockNews.com cut Kadant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Kadant 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 owns 11,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,587,814.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 881 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 have sold 8,798 shares of company stock valued at $2,899,004 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.