Stock Repurchase Plan Announced by Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Board of Directors

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 21st, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Kadant Stock Down 0.6%

KAI stock traded down $1.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $307.44. The stock had a trading volume of 91,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 201,552. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Kadant has a 1-year low of $244.87 and a 1-year high of $369.97. The company has a fifty day moving average of $312.51 and a 200 day moving average of $307.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.06 and a beta of 1.19.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.95 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 9.45%.The business’s revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. 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, equities analysts expect that Kadant will post 12.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. This is a positive change from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KAI. Weiss Ratings raised Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research raised Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $303.00 price target on Kadant in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.50.

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.