Riverbridge Partners LLC Grows Position in Kadant Inc $KAI

Riverbridge Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 43.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 252,230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 76,366 shares during the quarter. Kadant makes up about 1.8% of Riverbridge Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Riverbridge Partners LLC’s holdings in Kadant were worth $73,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Kadant by 1.8% in the first quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC now owns 11,626 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,399,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Kadant by 273.2% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 418 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. MidFirst Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Kadant in the fourth quarter worth approximately $239,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kadant by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Vancity Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Kadant by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,046 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $583,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KAI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research downgraded Kadant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $341.50.

Kadant Trading Down 0.2%

KAI opened at $300.74 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 fifty day moving average is $313.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $312.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.29 and a beta of 1.20. Kadant Inc has a 52 week low of $244.87 and a 52 week high of $369.97.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.73. Kadant had a return on equity of 12.13% and a net margin of 9.45%.The business had revenue of $281.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 forecast that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Kadant Dividend Announcement

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

Kadant declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kadant

In related news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 directly owned 1,363 shares in the company, valued at $455,473.71. This represents a 47.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company 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.