Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Stock Price

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $24.50 to $28.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 5.50% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on KMT. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.83.

Kennametal Stock Performance

Shares of KMT opened at $26.54 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 2.52. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.65. Kennametal has a twelve month low of $22.50 and a twelve month high of $32.18.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $481.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.26 million. Kennametal had a net margin of 4.98% and a return on equity of 8.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Kennametal will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Kennametal news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,192.70. This represents a 51.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,117,767.44. This represents a 34.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kennametal

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Kennametal during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Kennametal by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 22,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $581,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the 3rd quarter valued at $342,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kennametal by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,815,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,096,000 after purchasing an additional 17,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Kennametal by 95.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 163,670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,244,000 after purchasing an additional 79,992 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.