Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Kadant Inc $KAI

Key Points

• Vanguard Group trimmed its position in Kadant by 1.6% in Q4, selling 21,496 shares and still holding 1,297,741 shares — about 11.02% of the company valued at roughly $369.88M.
• Kadant beat Q1 estimates with $2.84 EPS (vs. $2.11 expected) and revenue of $281.5M (up 17.9% year-over-year), and issued Q2 2026 guidance of 2.880–2.980 EPS and FY2026 guidance of 12.330–12.680 EPS.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $0.36 (annualized $1.44, yield 0.4%), and analysts have an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus price target of $341.50.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,297,741 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 21,496 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.02% of Kadant worth $369,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kadant by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,867 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kadant by 102.3% during the fourth 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. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 1.4% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 3,484 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,037,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 89.1% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 104 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 0.4% in the third quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 11,723 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,489,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson set a $303.00 price target on Kadant in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Kadant from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $341.50.

Kadant Trading Up 13.4%

NYSE:KAI opened at $327.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35 and a beta of 1.19. Kadant Inc has a one year low of $244.87 and a one year high of $369.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.38. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $316.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $304.90.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.73. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 9.45%.The company had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. Kadant's revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 predict that Kadant Inc will post 12.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. This is a boost from Kadant's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. Kadant's payout ratio is presently 16.65%.

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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