Vancity Investment Management Ltd Purchases New Shares in Kadant Inc $KAI

Key Points

• Vancity Investment Management Ltd has acquired a new position in Kadant Inc, purchasing 1,819 shares valued at approximately $613,000 during the first quarter of the year.
• Kadant recently reported quarterly earnings that exceeded expectations, with earnings per share of $2.31, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.94.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, as well as a share buyback program authorizing up to $50 million for repurchasing shares.

Vancity Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,819 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $613,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KAI. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 720 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Crestline Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the fourth quarter worth $323,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 10,272 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,544,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the fourth quarter worth $249,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 20.0% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In other Kadant news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 415 shares of Kadant stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.41, for a total transaction of $140,440.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,438,242.50. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Kadant Stock Performance

KAI stock traded down $9.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $313.33. The stock had a trading volume of 71,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 100,554. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.89 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $331.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $326.66. Kadant Inc has a 52 week low of $281.30 and a 52 week high of $429.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Kadant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.14%.

About Kadant

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.