Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Sets New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating. The company traded as low as $24.83 and last traded at $24.3240, with a volume of 91,437 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $26.28.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Zacks Research cut Kennametal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Kennametal from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $31.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Kennametal from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Kennametal from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Kennametal from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kennametal currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $33.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey acquired 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $23.62 per share, with a total value of $165,340.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 280,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,636,204.34. This represents a 2.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Judith Bacchus sold 9,676 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.29, for a total transaction of $293,086.04. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 15,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $476,189.09. This represents a 38.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kennametal

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in Kennametal in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Kennametal by 9.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,376 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 723 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Kennametal by 3,600.0% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 999 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in Kennametal during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. increased its holdings in Kennametal by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 9,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the period.

Kennametal Trading Down 0.7%

The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.30.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $3.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.83. Kennametal had a return on equity of 24.83% and a net margin of 14.53%. The firm had revenue of $768.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 54.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kennametal Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 9th. Kennametal’s payout ratio is 18.18%.

Kennametal Company Profile

Kennametal Inc (NYSE: KMT) is a global industrial technology company that develops and manufactures tooling, engineered components and wear-resistant solutions. Its products are designed to help customers improve productivity, durability and performance in demanding manufacturing and industrial applications.

The company’s offerings include metal-cutting tools and systems, tooling components, advanced materials, and products made with hard metals and other wear-resistant technologies. Kennametal also provides engineered solutions for applications such as machining, earthworks, energy production, transportation, aerospace, defense and general engineering.

Founded in 1938 by Philip M.