Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Invests $2.76 Million in Kadant Inc $KAI

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,756,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned about 0.08% of Kadant at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KAI. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Kadant by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 254 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kadant by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Kadant by 0.6% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 6,120 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,789,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in Kadant by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 1,732 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in Kadant by 102.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 87 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Kadant Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KAI opened at $306.97 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $306.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $315.72. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 35.00 and a beta of 1.20. Kadant Inc has a twelve month low of $244.87 and a twelve month high of $357.65.

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 predict that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 EPS for the current year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

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

Kadant declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KAI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $341.50.

Insider Transactions at Kadant

In other Kadant news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of Kadant stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,363 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Kadant

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.