Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) by 37.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 205,195 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 55,510 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 1.74% of Kadant worth $58,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Kadant by 141.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,703 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $29,670,000 after buying an additional 58,382 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in Kadant during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,500,000. Zhang Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,515,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 43,246 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $12,326,000 after buying an additional 6,123 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 4th quarter valued at $1,144,000. 96.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Activity at Kadant
In other news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total value of $410,026.59. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $455,473.71. This represents a 47.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.
Kadant Stock Performance
KAI opened at $282.82 on Monday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $313.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $312.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.25 and a beta of 1.20. 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 Inc has a 52-week low of $244.87 and a 52-week high of $369.97.
Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.95 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 9.45%.The business's revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts expect that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Kadant declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
Kadant Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 16th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 16th. Kadant's payout ratio is 16.42%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KAI shares. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research lowered Kadant from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Kadant from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 price target on Kadant in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Kadant from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $341.50.
Read Our Latest Report on Kadant
Kadant Profile
(
Free Report)
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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