Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on KMT. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Kennametal from $24.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 research report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $40.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Kennametal from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kennametal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.67.

Kennametal Stock Performance

Shares of KMT stock opened at $23.98 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.67. Kennametal has a 12-month low of $22.50 and a 12-month high of $32.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $25.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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

Insider Transactions at Kennametal

In related news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 1,642 shares in the company, valued at $48,192.70. This trade represents a 51.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total transaction of $578,072.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 39,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,117,767.44. This trade represents a 34.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kennametal

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Kennametal by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,251,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $162,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,567,867 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kennametal during the fourth quarter worth about $59,207,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in shares of Kennametal by 35.1% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,332,993 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,798,000 after buying an additional 606,477 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Kennametal by 1.0% in the third 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. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Kennametal by 5.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,423,495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,911,000 after acquiring an additional 67,392 shares in 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.