Amundi Purchases New Position in Kadant Inc $KAI

Amundi purchased a new stake in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 18,938 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,390,000. Amundi owned 0.16% of Kadant at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KAI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kadant by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,332,583 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $448,961,000 after purchasing an additional 114,310 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kadant by 97.9% during the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 221,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $74,528,000 after purchasing an additional 109,439 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Kadant by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 165,438 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,738,000 after purchasing an additional 10,972 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Kadant by 249.0% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 160,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,175,000 after purchasing an additional 114,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Kadant by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 156,358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,985,000 after purchasing an additional 26,067 shares in the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Kadant

In other news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.41, for a total transaction of $140,440.15. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,438,242.50. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KAI has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson increased their target price on Kadant from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kadant from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $340.00.

Kadant Trading Up 0.7%

KAI stock opened at $318.17 on Thursday. Kadant Inc has a one year low of $281.30 and a one year high of $429.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $331.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $327.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $255.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.99 million. Kadant had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 12.62%. The company’s revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.81 earnings per share. Kadant has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.130-2.230 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 9.050-9.250 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Kadant Inc will post 9.97 EPS for the current year.

Kadant announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 9th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. Kadant’s payout ratio is 15.14%.

About Kadant

Kadant Inc supplies technologies and engineered systems worldwide. It operates in three segments: Flow Control, Industrial Processing, and Material Handling. The Flow Control segment develops, manufactures, and markets fluid-handling systems and equipment, such as rotary joints, syphons, turbulator bars, expansion joints, and engineered steam and condensate systems; and doctoring, cleaning, and filtration systems and related consumables consisting of doctor systems and holders, doctor blades, cleaning shower and fabric-conditioning systems, forming systems and wear surfaces, and water-filtration systems.