Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Kadant (NYSE:KAI) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on KAI. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target 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 issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $341.50.

Kadant Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of KAI stock opened at $307.44 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Kadant has a 1 year low of $244.87 and a 1 year high of $369.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $312.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.06 and a beta of 1.19.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.73. Kadant had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 12.13%. The firm had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. The company’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, equities analysts predict that Kadant will post 12.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Kadant Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th will be given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 16th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KAI. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Kadant by 102.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 87 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in shares of Kadant by 1,300.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 84 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kadant in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Kadant in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Kadant during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. 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.