ARK Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

ARK Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 495 shares during the quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Kennametal were worth $154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KMT. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 32.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,646,987 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $376,384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,328,786 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC raised its holdings in Kennametal by 8.9% in the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 9,707,735 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $277,739,000 after acquiring an additional 790,456 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Kennametal by 13.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,042,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,924,000 after acquiring an additional 349,174 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Kennametal by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,247,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $78,125,000 after acquiring an additional 297,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kennametal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,066,000.

Kennametal Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of Kennametal stock opened at $24.86 on Thursday. Kennametal Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.08 and a 12-month high of $30.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a 50-day moving average of $24.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.44.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.05. Kennametal had a net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 9.94%. The company had revenue of $495.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $498.99 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.33%.

Insider Transactions at Kennametal

In other news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.55, for a total transaction of $25,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,313.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KMT. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Kennametal from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Kennametal in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kennametal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.75.

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.