5,200 Shares in Kadant Inc $KAI Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System disclosed a new stake in Kadant, buying 5,200 shares valued at about $1.52 million in the first quarter.
• Kadant reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.84 and revenue of $281.5 million, both topping analyst expectations; revenue also rose 17.9% year over year.
• The company announced a $50 million share repurchase plan and a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, while analysts currently hold a consensus “Hold” rating with a $341.50 target price.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,200 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,520,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KAI. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 76,036.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 738,525 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $210,494,000 after purchasing an additional 737,555 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Kadant by 56.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 494,773 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $141,020,000 after buying an additional 178,563 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kadant in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,985,000. Riverbridge Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Kadant by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 252,230 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $73,739,000 after buying an additional 76,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kadant by 1,619.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 77,847 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $22,188,000 after buying an additional 73,320 shares during the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Kadant

In other news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total value of $410,026.59. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at $455,473.71. This represents a 47.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Kadant Stock Up 0.5%

KAI stock opened at $308.63 on Friday. Kadant Inc has a fifty-two week low of $244.87 and a fifty-two week high of $369.97. The company has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.19 and a beta of 1.20. The business's 50 day moving average price is $311.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $314.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.47.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $281.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $274.95 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 9.45%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Kadant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 16th. Kadant's payout ratio is 16.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KAI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Kadant from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Barrington Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kadant from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Kadant from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $341.50.

About Kadant

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.

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