Sei Investments Co. Sells 3,411 Shares of Kadant Inc $KAI

Sei Investments Co. decreased its position in Kadant Inc (NYSE:KAI) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,411 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Kadant were worth $25,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Kadant by 76,036.6% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 738,525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,494,000 after purchasing an additional 737,555 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Kadant by 56.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 494,773 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $141,020,000 after buying an additional 178,563 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kadant in the 4th quarter valued at $42,985,000. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in Kadant by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,038,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $303,619,000 after buying an additional 125,342 shares during the period. Finally, Riverbridge Partners LLC increased its position in Kadant by 43.4% during the 1st quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 252,230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,739,000 after buying an additional 76,366 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kadant news, SVP Stacy D. Krause sold 1,227 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.17, for a total transaction of $410,026.59. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kadant Price Performance

Kadant stock opened at $314.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 35.84 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $306.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $315.93. Kadant Inc has a one year low of $244.87 and a one year high of $369.97.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $281.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. Kadant has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.880-2.980 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 12.330-12.680 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Kadant Inc will post 12.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Kadant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KAI shares. Zacks Research cut 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 report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a report on Monday, May 4th. One investment 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $341.50.

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.