Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) Short Interest Up 7.0% in January

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,080,000 shares, an increase of 7.0% from the December 31st total of 5,680,000 shares. Approximately 7.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 898,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KMT. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America downgraded Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut 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. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Kennametal from $24.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.67.

Kennametal Stock Performance

Shares of KMT stock remained flat at $23.40 on Tuesday. The stock had a trading volume of 277,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 819,202. 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 quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 2.52. The stock has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.66. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $25.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.67.

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. Kennametal had a net margin of 4.98% and a return on equity of 8.35%. The firm had revenue of $481.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Kennametal will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.50%.

Insider Transactions at Kennametal

In other Kennametal news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $51,802.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,192.70. The trade was a 51.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $578,072.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 39,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,117,767.44. The trade was 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 Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KMT. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Kennametal during the third quarter worth approximately $804,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Kennametal by 45.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Kennametal by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,815,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,096,000 after acquiring an additional 17,265 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in Kennametal by 113.7% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 191,151 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,957,000 after acquiring an additional 101,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Kennametal by 48.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 242,439 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,286,000 after purchasing an additional 79,547 shares during the period.

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.