Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $26.83.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on KMT shares. Bank of America cut shares of Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Kennametal from $24.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kennametal news, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 $1,117,767.44. The trade was a 34.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kennametal

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,753 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its stake in Kennametal by 198.9% in the 2nd 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. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Kennametal by 98.7% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 43,877 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after buying an additional 1,016 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 17,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter.

Kennametal Stock Performance

Shares of KMT stock opened at $23.72 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.57.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $481.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.26 million. Kennametal had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 4.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kennametal will post 1.44 EPS for the current year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio is 62.50%.

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.