Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI – Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 91,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,773,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.78% of Kadant as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Kadant during the second quarter valued at $565,205,000. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Kadant by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,038,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $303,619,000 after purchasing an additional 125,342 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Kadant by 56.5% in the 4th 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 grew its position in Kadant by 3.5% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kadant by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 314,496 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday, May 4th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Kadant from $306.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Kadant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $357.50.
Kadant Stock Performance
Shares of KAI stock opened at $302.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $313.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $315.52. Kadant Inc has a 52 week low of $244.87 and a 52 week high of $354.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53 and a beta of 1.20. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.48. Kadant had a net margin of 9.52% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The company had revenue of $312.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Kadant has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.430-12.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kadant Inc will post 12.56 earnings per share for the current year.
Kadant announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication 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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