Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Kennametal from $24.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America lowered Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $40.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kennametal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.83.

Kennametal Price Performance

Shares of Kennametal stock opened at $23.72 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.57. Kennametal has a 12 month low of $22.50 and a 12 month high of $32.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.65.

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

Insider Activity at Kennametal

In other news, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total value of $578,072.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 39,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,117,767.44. This trade represents a 34.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $51,802.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,192.70. The trade was 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kennametal

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,332,993 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,798,000 after buying an additional 606,477 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Kennametal during the third quarter worth about $10,295,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kennametal by 20.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,903,714 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,813,000 after buying an additional 321,876 shares during the period. Finally, Interval Partners LP acquired a new stake in Kennametal in the second 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.