Zhang Financial LLC Acquires New Position in Kadant Inc $KAI

Zhang Financial LLC bought a new position in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,091 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,515,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kadant in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. First Horizon Corp acquired a new stake in Kadant during the third quarter worth about $30,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. bought a new position in Kadant in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Kadant in the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Kadant by 148.0% in the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 124 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KAI. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson set a $303.00 target price on Kadant in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $341.50.

Kadant Price Performance

NYSE KAI opened at $339.41 on Thursday. Kadant Inc has a 12 month low of $244.87 and a 12 month high of $387.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 39.24 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $316.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $304.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 8.97 and a quick ratio of 5.22.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $2.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.08. Kadant had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 9.69%.The firm had revenue of $286.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Kadant has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.780-1.880 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.750 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kadant Inc will post 9.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.