Kadant (NYSE:KAI) Board of Directors Authorizes Stock Repurchase Plan

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 21st, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Kadant Trading Down 0.6%

KAI stock traded down $1.73 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $307.44. 91,700 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 201,552. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $312.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $307.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.47. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 35.06 and a beta of 1.19. Kadant has a one year low of $244.87 and a one year high of $369.97.

Kadant (NYSE:KAI) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $281.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts predict that Kadant will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kadant Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a $0.36 dividend. This is an increase from Kadant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. Kadant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KAI. Zacks Research raised Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings raised Kadant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. DA Davidson set a $303.00 price target on Kadant in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Kadant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Kadant in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kadant currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.