Kadant Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.32 (NYSE:KAI)

Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share by the industrial products company on Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th.

Kadant has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Kadant has a payout ratio of 12.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Kadant to earn $10.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.1%.

Kadant Stock Performance

NYSE KAI traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $392.24. The company had a trading volume of 80,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 80,742. The firm has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.17 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $312.18. Kadant has a fifty-two week low of $249.51 and a fifty-two week high of $422.54.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $271.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $266.38 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 11.12%. The company’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Kadant will post 10.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 2,000 shares of Kadant stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.40, for a total value of $674,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,433,950. This trade represents a 32.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.