Nuveen LLC Purchases New Position in Kadant Inc $KAI

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC has acquired a new stake in Kadant Inc, purchasing 31,193 shares valued at approximately $10.5 million during the first quarter.
• Kadant reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.31 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, but showed a 7.3% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company's stock has been rated a "hold" by Wall Street analysts, with price target projections ranging from $300 to $380.

Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 31,193 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $10,509,000. Nuveen LLC owned about 0.26% of Kadant as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KAI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Kadant by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,332,583 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $448,961,000 after acquiring an additional 114,310 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Kadant by 97.9% during the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 221,209 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $74,528,000 after acquiring an additional 109,439 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Kadant by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 156,358 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $53,985,000 after acquiring an additional 26,067 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Kadant by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 154,466 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $53,289,000 after acquiring an additional 8,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Kadant by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 126,606 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $42,655,000 after buying an additional 4,920 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on KAI shares. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Kadant from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on Kadant from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kadant has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $340.00.

Kadant Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE KAI traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $338.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 41,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 142,780. Kadant Inc has a 12 month low of $281.30 and a 12 month high of $429.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $329.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $331.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.38. The stock has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66 and a beta of 1.24.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.37. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.62% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm had revenue of $255.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.81 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Kadant has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.130-2.230 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 9.050-9.250 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Kadant Inc will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Kadant 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.