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

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also commented on KAI. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 price objective on Kadant in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $341.50.

Kadant Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of KAI opened at $307.44 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $312.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $307.02. Kadant has a twelve month low of $244.87 and a twelve month high of $369.97. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 35.06 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. The company 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%. Kadant’s revenue was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. 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 forecast that Kadant will post 12.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kadant declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program 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 buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Kadant

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Kadant by 21.6% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 118,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,570,000 after acquiring an additional 21,038 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Kadant by 406.6% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 56,158 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,417,000 after purchasing an additional 45,073 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Kadant by 29.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 65,137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $19,036,000 after purchasing an additional 14,760 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Kadant by 23.9% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 14,133 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Kadant by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 72,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $21,231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255 shares in the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kadant Company 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.