State of Wyoming Takes Position in Kadant Inc $KAI

State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $704,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in Kadant by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,038,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $303,619,000 after purchasing an additional 125,342 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Kadant by 76,036.6% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 738,525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,494,000 after purchasing an additional 737,555 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Kadant by 56.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 494,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $141,020,000 after purchasing an additional 178,563 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kadant by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 456,721 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $130,175,000 after purchasing an additional 15,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Kadant by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 314,496 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,651,000 after buying an additional 2,294 shares during the period. 96.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kadant Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Kadant stock opened at $333.88 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.90 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $309.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $316.56. Kadant Inc has a 52-week low of $244.87 and a 52-week high of $354.07.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $312.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $299.17 million. Kadant had a net margin of 9.52% and a return on equity of 13.16%. Kadant’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 earnings per share. Kadant has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.430-12.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Kadant Inc will post 12.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Kadant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 16th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.48%.

Insider Activity at Kadant

In other news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 1,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $455,473.71. This trade represents a 47.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on KAI. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective 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 report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Kadant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. DA Davidson boosted 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Kadant from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $357.50.

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.