Norges Bank Takes $42.99 Million Position in Kadant Inc $KAI

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 150,814 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,985,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in Kadant by 3.6% during the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 984,193 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $312,432,000 after purchasing an additional 34,561 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Kadant by 76,036.6% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 738,525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,494,000 after purchasing an additional 737,555 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Kadant by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 316,210 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $94,098,000 after buying an additional 4,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Kadant by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 216,204 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,623,000 after buying an additional 47,506 shares in the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KAI. Wall Street Zen raised Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 price objective on Kadant in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kadant currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $341.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kadant news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total value of $410,026.59. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,363 shares in the company, valued at $455,473.71. The trade was a 47.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kadant Stock Up 0.3%

KAI opened at $294.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.47. Kadant Inc has a fifty-two week low of $244.87 and a fifty-two week high of $369.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $314.15 and its 200 day moving average is $311.33. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.54 and a beta of 1.20.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 9.45%.The company had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Kadant has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.880-2.980 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 12.330-12.680 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 16th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Kadant’s payout ratio is presently 16.42%.

Kadant announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 21st that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.