Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Reaches New 1-Year High on Strong Earnings

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $31.27 and last traded at $31.15, with a volume of 150704 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $26.58.

The industrial products company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.04. Kennametal had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 5.34%. The firm had revenue of $481.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Kennametal’s payout ratio is 58.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kennametal presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kennametal

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP grew its position in Kennametal by 198.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,058 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 704 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Kennametal during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Kennametal by 98.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter.

Kennametal Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.64.

Kennametal Company Profile

Kennametal Inc engages in development and application of tungsten carbides, ceramics, and super-hard materials and solutions for use in metal cutting and extreme wear applications to enable customers work against corrosion and high temperatures conditions worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Metal Cutting and Infrastructure.