Wasatch Advisors LP Sells 169,852 Shares of Kadant Inc $KAI

Wasatch Advisors LP cut its holdings in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 16.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 868,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 169,852 shares during the quarter. Kadant makes up about 1.8% of Wasatch Advisors LP’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Wasatch Advisors LP owned 7.36% of Kadant worth $272,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Kadant by 12,689.4% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 33,892 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,908,000 after purchasing an additional 33,627 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kadant during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,144,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Kadant by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 43,246 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,326,000 after purchasing an additional 6,123 shares during the last quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 76,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,985,000. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Kadant

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. 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 cut Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Kadant from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on Kadant from $306.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $357.50.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of KAI opened at $338.02 on Wednesday. Kadant Inc has a twelve month low of $244.87 and a twelve month high of $357.65. The company has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.35 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $307.87 and a 200 day moving average of $316.38. The company has a quick ratio of 5.37, a current ratio of 9.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $312.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $299.17 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 9.52%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. Kadant has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.430-12.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Kadant Inc will post 12.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Kadant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 16th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.48%.

Kadant Company 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.