JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Kadant Inc $KAI

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 141.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 58,382 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.85% of Kadant worth $29,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Kadant by 54.6% in the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 248,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,928,000 after purchasing an additional 87,832 shares during the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,745,000. Zhang Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,515,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 3rd quarter worth $4,327,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 27,631 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Price Performance

NYSE KAI opened at $296.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $326.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $303.48. Kadant Inc has a 1 year low of $244.87 and a 1 year high of $369.97. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.23 and a beta of 1.22.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $286.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.43 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 9.69%.The firm’s 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 EPS. 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 research analysts forecast that Kadant Inc will post 9.97 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on KAI shares. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 price target on Kadant in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $341.50.

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.