Sei Investments Co. Has $25.07 Million Position in Kadant Inc $KAI

Sei Investments Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 85,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,411 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.73% of Kadant worth $25,067,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,500,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Kadant during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,144,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in 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 valued at $12,326,000 after purchasing an additional 6,123 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Kadant by 12,689.4% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 33,892 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,908,000 after purchasing an additional 33,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Kadant by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 48,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,989,000 after purchasing an additional 15,111 shares during the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KAI. Zacks Research cut Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $341.50.

Kadant Price Performance

NYSE:KAI opened at $314.33 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $306.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $315.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84 and a beta of 1.20. Kadant Inc has a 12-month low of $244.87 and a 12-month high of $369.97.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released 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. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 9.45%.The company had revenue of $281.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.95 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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, analysts anticipate that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

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

Kadant announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kadant news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total value of $410,026.59. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,363 shares in the company, valued at $455,473.71. The trade was a 47.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.