Stacy Krause Sells 1,227 Shares of Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Stock

Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) SVP Stacy Krause sold 1,227 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total value of $410,026.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $455,473.71. This trade represents a 47.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Kadant Trading Down 3.1%

Kadant stock opened at $321.89 on Friday. Kadant Inc has a 52 week low of $244.87 and a 52 week high of $369.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.70 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $313.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $308.87.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $281.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.95 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 9.45%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. Kadant has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.880-2.980 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 12.330-12.680 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Kadant Inc will post 12.5 EPS for the current year.

Kadant announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 21st that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Kadant Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 16th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday, May 4th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 target price on Kadant in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $341.50.

Institutional Trading of Kadant

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Kadant by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,763 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $931,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 8.6% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 907 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 4.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,985 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after buying an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the first quarter valued at $255,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kadant by 1.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 30,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,435,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Company Profile

Kadant Inc, headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts, is a global supplier of high‐value, critical components and engineered systems for the pulp and paper industry and other process industries. The company’s product portfolio spans stock preparation technologies, refiners and pulpers, fluid handling systems, and web‐handling equipment designed to optimize the efficiency and quality of paper production. In addition to capital equipment, Kadant offers aftermarket services, including spare parts, maintenance programs and process optimization consulting, which together support long‐term customer productivity and reliability.

Originally part of a larger industrial conglomerate, Kadant was established as an independent public company in 1991.