Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Reaches New 1-Year Low Following Weak Earnings

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock traded as low as $20.50 and last traded at $22.23, with a volume of 65580 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.46.

The industrial products company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.02). Kennametal had a net margin of 4.98% and a return on equity of 8.35%.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on KMT shares. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Kennametal from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America lowered shares of Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $40.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.67.

Insider Activity at Kennametal

In other Kennametal news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,192.70. This represents a 51.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 39,581 shares in the company, valued at $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. 1.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kennametal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KMT. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kennametal during the fourth quarter worth about $59,207,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $162,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,567,867 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Kennametal during the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,295,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kennametal by 141.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 258,910 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,714,000 after purchasing an additional 151,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kennametal by 1,235.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 126,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,284,000 after purchasing an additional 117,162 shares in the last quarter.

Kennametal Stock Performance

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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.66. The company has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.66.

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.