Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

KMT has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Kennametal from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America downgraded shares of Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $24.50 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.67.

Kennametal Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of KMT opened at $24.35 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 2.52. Kennametal has a 1 year low of $22.50 and a 1 year high of $32.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.67.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $481.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.26 million. Kennametal had a net margin of 4.98% and a return on equity of 8.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. Analysts forecast that Kennametal will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.50%.

Insider Activity at Kennametal

In other news, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total value of $578,072.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 39,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,117,767.44. The trade was a 34.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total value of $51,802.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,192.70. This trade represents a 51.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kennametal

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Kennametal by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,251,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $162,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,567,867 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 35.1% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,332,993 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,798,000 after buying an additional 606,477 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Kennametal during the third quarter worth about $10,295,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Kennametal by 20.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,903,714 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,813,000 after acquiring an additional 321,876 shares during the period. Finally, Interval Partners LP purchased a new stake in Kennametal during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,598,000.

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.