Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) saw an uptick in trading volume on Wednesday . 54,464 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the previous session’s volume of 81,514 shares.The stock last traded at $411.51 and had previously closed at $422.93.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KAI. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Kadant from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st.

Kadant Trading Down 4.6 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $349.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $318.89. 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 company has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.32 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Kadant Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 152 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $398.21, for a total value of $60,527.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,692,392.50. The trade was a 3.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rebecca Martinez O’mara sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,052 shares of company stock worth $1,091,455 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kadant

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kadant by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,349,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $396,438,000 after purchasing an additional 15,512 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kadant by 46.3% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kadant by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 314,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $92,355,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Kadant by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 280,797 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $94,909,000 after purchasing an additional 6,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kadant by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 144,344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $48,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.