Fifth Third Bancorp Decreases Position in Kadant Inc $KAI

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its holdings in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 34.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 154 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Kadant were worth $91,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kadant in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its stake in Kadant by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 150 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Kadant in the 1st quarter worth $54,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Kadant by 55.4% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Kadant by 348.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Kadant

In other news, Director Thomas C. Leonard sold 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.41, for a total transaction of $140,440.15. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,250 shares in the company, valued at $1,438,242.50. This trade represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kadant Stock Performance

NYSE KAI opened at $294.78 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $324.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.83 and a beta of 1.22. Kadant Inc has a fifty-two week low of $281.30 and a fifty-two week high of $429.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.38.

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

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 9th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KAI shares. DA Davidson raised 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. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Kadant from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kadant presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $340.00.

Kadant Profile

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.