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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $24.17.

Kennametal Price Performance

Kennametal stock opened at $25.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $25.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.64. Kennametal has a one year low of $22.08 and a one year high of $27.04.

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 net margin of 5.34% and a return on equity of 9.17%. The company had revenue of $543.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $532.72 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Kennametal will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kennametal

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 198.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,058 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Kennametal during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kennametal in the first quarter worth $32,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Kennametal during the second quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Kennametal by 2,552.0% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 2,603 shares during the last quarter.

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.