Kadant Inc $KAI Shares Acquired by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 87,414 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 12,306 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Kadant were worth $24,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KAI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Kadant by 141.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,670,000 after purchasing an additional 58,382 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in 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. Amundi raised its position in Kadant by 163.8% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 55,036 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,374,000 after purchasing an additional 34,170 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Kadant by 23.8% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 147,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,812,000 after purchasing an additional 28,380 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its position in Kadant by 12.8% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 156,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,616,000 after purchasing an additional 17,747 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Stock Performance

NYSE:KAI opened at $324.43 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $320.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $302.77. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.51 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Kadant Inc has a 52 week low of $244.87 and a 52 week high of $369.97.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $286.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.43 million. Kadant had a net margin of 9.69% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.25 earnings per share. 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 analysts anticipate that Kadant Inc will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. This is an increase from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Kadant’s payout ratio is presently 15.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KAI. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $303.00 target price on Kadant in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $341.50.

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.