Barrington Research Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Kadant (NYSE:KAI)

Kadant (NYSE:KAI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by Barrington Research in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $380.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock. Barrington Research’s price target points to a potential upside of 12.77% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on KAI. DA Davidson set a $303.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Kadant has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $341.50.

Kadant Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE:KAI traded up $9.45 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $336.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 179,572 shares, compared to its average volume of 142,690. Kadant has a 52 week low of $244.87 and a 52 week high of $387.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $314.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $304.55. The company has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 8.97 and a quick ratio of 5.22.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $286.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.43 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 9.69%.Kadant’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.25 earnings per share. 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, research analysts expect that Kadant will post 9.97 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Kadant

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kadant by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,763 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $931,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Kadant by 8.6% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 907 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Kadant by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,985 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,353,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in Kadant during the 1st quarter worth about $255,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Kadant by 1.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 30,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,435,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Company Profile

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.