Legal & General Group Plc Invests $28.77 Million in Kadant Inc $KAI

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 91,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,773,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAI. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Kadant by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 254 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kadant by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Kadant by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 6,120 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,789,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 1,732 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 102.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 87 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kadant Price Performance

NYSE:KAI opened at $302.57 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $313.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $315.52. Kadant Inc has a 52 week low of $244.87 and a 52 week high of $354.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.48. Kadant had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 9.52%.The firm had revenue of $312.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Kadant has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.430-12.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Kadant Inc will post 12.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on KAI shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research cut Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kadant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Kadant from $306.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kadant presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $357.50.

Kadant 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.