Analysts Set Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) Price Target at $24.00

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.00.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Kennametal from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kennametal in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Kennametal in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Zacks Research raised Kennametal to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised Kennametal from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Friday, August 15th.

Kennametal Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of Kennametal stock opened at $21.20 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.60. Kennametal has a 12-month low of $17.30 and a 12-month high of $32.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.06). Kennametal had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 4.73%.The company had revenue of $516.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $527.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kennametal will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Kennametal’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Institutional Trading of Kennametal

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KMT. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Kennametal by 699.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 10,193 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Kennametal by 107.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal in the first quarter valued at $424,000. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kennametal by 1.8% in the first quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 34,150 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period.

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.