Quantinno Capital Management LP Increases Stake in Kadant Inc $KAI

Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 49.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,747 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,243 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Kadant were worth $1,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Kadant by 76,036.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 738,525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,494,000 after buying an additional 737,555 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Kadant by 56.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 494,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $141,020,000 after buying an additional 178,563 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kadant during the 4th quarter valued at $42,985,000. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Kadant by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,038,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $303,619,000 after acquiring an additional 125,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverbridge Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Kadant by 43.4% in the first quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 252,230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,739,000 after acquiring an additional 76,366 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of KAI opened at $338.02 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $307.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $316.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.35 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 9.05, a quick ratio of 5.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Kadant Inc has a 1-year low of $244.87 and a 1-year high of $357.65.

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

Kadant Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 16th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 16th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.48%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KAI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research lowered Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings cut Kadant from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Kadant from $306.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $357.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kadant news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the 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 owned 1,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $455,473.71. This represents a 47.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.