Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $344.81, but opened at $325.00. Kadant shares last traded at $328.10, with a volume of 17,503 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barrington Research upped their price target on shares of Kadant from $360.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

Kadant Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.84 and a beta of 1.28. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $378.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $339.60.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $271.61 million for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Kadant Inc. will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Kadant’s payout ratio is currently 13.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kadant

In other Kadant news, VP Fredrik H. Westerhout sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.25, for a total transaction of $238,350.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,437 shares in the company, valued at $570,848.25. This trade represents a 29.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rebecca Martinez O’mara sold 300 shares of Kadant stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.59, for a total value of $117,777.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $507,618.87. This trade represents a 18.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,052 shares of company stock worth $416,655 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kadant

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KAI. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kadant by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,596 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Kadant by 4.0% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 19,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,591,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Kadant by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 3,279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $963,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 55.6% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 35,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,204,000 after acquiring an additional 12,500 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Kadant by 61.2% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,531 shares in the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.