Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Upgraded 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 issued to investors on Friday.

KMT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Kennametal from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.80.

Kennametal Price Performance

KMT stock opened at $21.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.53. Kennametal has a 52 week low of $17.30 and a 52 week high of $32.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $20.23 and its 200 day moving average is $23.38. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.39.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.21. Kennametal had a net margin of 4.76% and a return on equity of 8.12%. The company had revenue of $486.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $489.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Kennametal will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. Kennametal’s payout ratio is 57.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kennametal

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 469,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,270,000 after purchasing an additional 115,718 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the 4th quarter valued at about $373,000. AMH Equity Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,441,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 174.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 40,359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 25,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 426,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,235,000 after purchasing an additional 16,926 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.