Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Kadant from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Kadant from $306.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $357.50.

Kadant Stock Performance

NYSE:KAI opened at $333.88 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 35.90 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $309.71 and its 200 day moving average is $316.56. Kadant has a fifty-two week low of $244.87 and a fifty-two week high of $354.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.59.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.48. Kadant had a net margin of 9.52% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The company had revenue of $312.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $299.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. Kadant’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Kadant has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.430-12.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.900-3.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kadant will post 12.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Kadant

In other news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total value of $410,026.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $455,473.71. The trade was a 47.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kadant

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Kadant in the second quarter valued at about $458,000. Man Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant during the second quarter valued at about $3,239,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant during the second quarter valued at about $3,488,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,773,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,765,000. Institutional investors own 96.13% 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.