Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Lowered to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on KAI. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Kadant from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of Kadant stock traded up $13.88 on Thursday, hitting $318.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 46,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 161,423. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65 and a beta of 1.30. Kadant has a 1 year low of $266.23 and a 1 year high of $429.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $315.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $353.45.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $239.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.41 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.59%. Kadant's quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kadant will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kadant

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KAI. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in Kadant in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $193,595,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kadant by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,218,273 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $420,292,000 after acquiring an additional 243,267 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kadant during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,529,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Kadant by 249.0% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 160,800 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $54,175,000 after acquiring an additional 114,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Kadant in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,400,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company's stock.

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.