Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Sells 6,255 Shares of Kadant Inc $KAI

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 2.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 209,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,255 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kadant were worth $61,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in Kadant by 1,300.0% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 84 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kadant in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Kadant by 102.3% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 87 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Kadant during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Kadant in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kadant

In other news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of Kadant 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. The trade was a 47.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Kadant Stock Down 2.0%

NYSE:KAI opened at $308.03 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12 and a beta of 1.20. Kadant Inc has a twelve month low of $244.87 and a twelve month high of $369.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $311.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $314.14.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.95 million. Kadant had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 12.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $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. Analysts anticipate that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 EPS for the current year.

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

Kadant Dividend Announcement

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

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.