Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Buys New Holdings in Kadant Inc $KAI

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 24,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,843,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.21% of Kadant at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hardy Reed LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant during the second quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.2% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 61,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $19,418,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 76.2% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $193,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kadant by 79.2% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Kadant by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 118,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,570,000 after buying an additional 21,038 shares during the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kadant Stock Performance

Shares of KAI stock opened at $333.88 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $309.71 and a 200 day moving average of $316.59. Kadant Inc has a 52 week low of $244.87 and a 52 week high of $354.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.90 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 5.37, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $312.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $299.17 million. Kadant had a net margin of 9.52% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.31 earnings per share. Kadant has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.430-12.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Kadant Inc will post 12.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Kadant’s payout ratio is presently 15.48%.

Kadant announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KAI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kadant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Zacks Research cut shares of Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Kadant from $306.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Kadant from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $357.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kadant

In related news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total transaction of $410,026.59. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.