Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) Short Interest Update

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,080,000 shares, an increase of 7.0% from the December 15th total of 5,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 898,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.8 days. Approximately 7.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Kennametal from $24.50 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on Kennametal from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.67.

Kennametal Stock Down 0.6 %

Kennametal stock traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $24.28. 855,466 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 779,906. Kennametal has a 1-year low of $22.50 and a 1-year high of $32.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.63. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.67.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last issued 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 return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 4.98%. The business had revenue of $481.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Kennametal will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders 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 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio is 62.50%.

Insider Activity

In other Kennametal news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $51,802.75. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 39,581 shares in the company, valued at $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 company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kennametal

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Kennametal by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,683,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $110,248,000 after acquiring an additional 100,905 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Kennametal by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 2,374 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Kennametal during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new stake in Kennametal in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $624,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 1.0% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 2,051,503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,292,000 after buying an additional 20,634 shares during the last quarter.

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.