Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Cuts Stock Position in Karat Packaging Inc. (NASDAQ:KRT)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Karat Packaging Inc. (NASDAQ:KRT) by 3.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 80,351 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,855 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s holdings in Karat Packaging were worth $2,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Karat Packaging during the second quarter valued at $2,359,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Karat Packaging by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 283,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,375,000 after buying an additional 21,383 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Karat Packaging by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 9,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Karat Packaging by 29.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 32,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $970,000 after buying an additional 7,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Karat Packaging during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,162,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 25.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Truist Financial lowered Karat Packaging from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th.

Karat Packaging Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KRT opened at $24.51 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $489.59 million, a P/E ratio of 16.56 and a beta of 1.04. Karat Packaging Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.23 and a twelve month high of $30.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.81. The company has a current ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Karat Packaging (NASDAQ:KRT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $112.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.03 million. Karat Packaging had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 6.90%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Karat Packaging Inc. will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Karat Packaging Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Karat Packaging’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.59%.

About Karat Packaging

Karat Packaging Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and distribution of single-use disposable products in plastic, paper, biopolymer-based, and other compostable forms used in various restaurant and foodservice settings. It provides food and take-out containers, bags, tableware, cups, lids, cutlery, straws, specialty beverage ingredients, equipment, gloves, and other products under the Karat Earth brand.