ProShare Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Kadant Inc $KAI

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,853 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,616 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kadant were worth $6,514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kadant by 102.3% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 87 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Kadant by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 3,484 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Kadant by 89.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in Kadant by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 11,723 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,489,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in Kadant by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kadant Trading Up 4.1%

Shares of NYSE:KAI opened at $319.44 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $312.25 and its 200 day moving average is $307.10. Kadant Inc has a 1 year low of $244.87 and a 1 year high of $369.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.42 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.95 million. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 9.45%.The company’s revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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, research analysts predict that Kadant Inc will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. 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 is currently 16.42%.

Kadant declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the industrial products company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KAI. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 target price on Kadant in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research lowered Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $341.50.

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.