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

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

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

Kennametal Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:KMT opened at $23.93 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Kennametal has a one year low of $22.50 and a one year high of $32.18. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.60.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. Kennametal had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 4.98%. The firm had revenue of $481.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Kennametal will post 1.44 EPS 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 issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total value of $51,802.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the company’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 transaction of $578,072.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 39,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,117,767.44. This represents a 34.09 % 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 insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kennametal

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP lifted 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 purchasing an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Kennametal during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Kennametal during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Kennametal by 45.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Kennametal during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000.

About Kennametal

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.