Erste Asset Management GmbH Sells 5,793 Shares of Kadant Inc $KAI

Erste Asset Management GmbH lowered its holdings in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 29.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,872 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,793 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Kadant were worth $4,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Kadant by 3.6% in the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 984,193 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $312,432,000 after purchasing an additional 34,561 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its position 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 valued at $210,494,000 after purchasing an additional 737,555 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Kadant by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 494,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $141,020,000 after acquiring an additional 178,563 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Kadant by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 314,496 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,294 shares during the period. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kadant by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 216,204 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,623,000 after acquiring an additional 47,506 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kadant news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total value of $410,026.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $455,473.71. The trade was a 47.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on KAI shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a report on Friday, February 20th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price 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 report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kadant currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $341.50.

Kadant Price Performance

KAI stock opened at $293.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.53. Kadant Inc has a one year low of $244.87 and a one year high of $369.97. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 33.50 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $314.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $311.64.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. Kadant had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 12.13%. The business had revenue of $281.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, analysts predict that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 16th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. 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 currently 16.42%.

Kadant Profile

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.