Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI – Free Report) by 91.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,404 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,106 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Kadant were worth $1,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Kadant during the 2nd quarter worth $565,205,000. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in Kadant by 13.7% in the first 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. Capital World Investors lifted 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 worth $141,020,000 after purchasing an additional 178,563 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted 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 worth $130,175,000 after purchasing an additional 15,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 314,496 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,651,000 after buying an additional 2,294 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KAI shares. DA Davidson increased their target price on Kadant from $306.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Kadant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $357.50.
Kadant Price Performance
KAI stock opened at $298.87 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $311.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $314.13. Kadant Inc has a 52-week low of $244.87 and a 52-week high of $354.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 32.14 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.
Kadant (NYSE:KAI – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.48. Kadant had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 9.52%.The company had revenue of $312.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $299.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. Kadant has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.430-12.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. Analysts predict that Kadant Inc will post 12.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Kadant announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.
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.
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