StockNews.com Upgrades Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on KMT. Barclays raised their price target on Kennametal from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kennametal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.33.

Kennametal Price Performance

NYSE:KMT opened at $25.71 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.79. Kennametal has a 1-year low of $22.08 and a 1-year high of $27.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a PE ratio of 19.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.05. Kennametal had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 5.34%. The business had revenue of $543.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $532.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Kennametal will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.26%.

Institutional Trading of Kennametal

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its stake in Kennametal by 35.1% in the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,332,993 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,798,000 after buying an additional 606,477 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Kennametal by 20.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,903,714 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,813,000 after buying an additional 321,876 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Kennametal by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,240,814 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,371,000 after buying an additional 305,542 shares during the period. Interval Partners LP acquired a new position in Kennametal in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,598,000. Finally, Azarias Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Kennametal during the first quarter worth approximately $4,795,000.

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.