Barrington Research Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Kadant (NYSE:KAI)

Barrington Research reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Kadant (NYSE:KAI) in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Barrington Research currently has a $360.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock. Barrington Research also issued estimates for Kadant’s Q4 2024 earnings at $2.00 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.47 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.06 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.20 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $2.70 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $3.33 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $3.37 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $11.83 EPS.

Separately, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Kadant from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Kadant Price Performance

NYSE KAI opened at $343.38 on Wednesday. Kadant has a one year low of $231.83 and a one year high of $363.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $323.77 and a 200 day moving average of $305.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.25.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.41. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 11.12%. The company had revenue of $271.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $266.38 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. Kadant’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kadant will post 9.99 EPS for the current year.

Kadant Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kadant

In other Kadant news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.40, for a total transaction of $674,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,250 shares in the company, valued at $1,433,950. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Kadant during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Park Place Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 204 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kadant during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 226.2% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in Kadant by 31,600.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.