Stock Repurchase Plan Announced by Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Board of Directors

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 15th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on KAI. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson cut their price target on Kadant from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st.

Kadant Stock Up 1.1%

Kadant stock opened at $325.69 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $319.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $355.67. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36 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 current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kadant will post 9.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Kadant’s payout ratio is 14.44%.

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.