4D Advisors LLC Invests $4.28 Million in Kadant Inc $KAI

4D Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 15,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,275,000. Kadant comprises about 2.3% of 4D Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Kadant by 141.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,670,000 after acquiring an additional 58,382 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new position in shares of Kadant in the third quarter worth about $1,500,000. Zhang Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Kadant in the third quarter worth about $1,515,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Kadant by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 43,246 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,326,000 after acquiring an additional 6,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kadant in the fourth quarter worth about $1,144,000. Institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Kadant Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE KAI opened at $293.34 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $314.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $312.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a PE ratio of 33.45 and a beta of 1.20. Kadant Inc has a 1 year low of $244.87 and a 1 year high of $369.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $281.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.95 million. Kadant had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 12.13%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. 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, research analysts forecast that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 EPS for the current year.

Kadant Announces Dividend

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

Kadant announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kadant news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total transaction of $410,026.59. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $455,473.71. This represents a 47.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Kadant 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.