Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) Short Interest Update

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,080,000 shares, an increase of 7.0% from the December 15th total of 5,680,000 shares. Approximately 7.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 898,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Kennametal from $24.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com lowered Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Kennametal from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kennametal

In other news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 $48,192.70. This represents a 51.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 39,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kennametal

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 33.5% in the third 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,683,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $110,248,000 after buying an additional 100,905 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in shares of Kennametal by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,332,993 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,798,000 after buying an additional 606,477 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in shares of Kennametal by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 2,051,503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,292,000 after buying an additional 20,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,815,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,096,000 after acquiring an additional 17,265 shares in the last quarter.

Kennametal Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of KMT traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $24.28. 855,466 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 779,906. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $26.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.65. Kennametal has a 12 month low of $22.50 and a 12 month high of $32.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.67.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.29 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 4.98%. The business’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Kennametal will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.50%.

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.