JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Stock Holdings in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 48.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 242,439 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 79,547 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.31% of Kennametal worth $6,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kennametal during the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Kennametal by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,683,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $110,248,000 after purchasing an additional 100,905 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Kennametal by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 4,977,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $117,175,000 after purchasing an additional 67,327 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 16.5% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 2,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the second quarter worth $28,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on KMT. Barclays cut their target price on Kennametal from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Bank of America downgraded Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.67.

Kennametal Stock Down 0.5 %

Kennametal stock opened at $23.97 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.67. Kennametal Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.50 and a 52 week high of $32.18.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last issued 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. Kennametal had a net margin of 4.98% and a return on equity of 8.35%. The business had revenue of $481.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total value of $578,072.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 39,581 shares in the company, valued at $1,117,767.44. The trade was a 34.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $51,802.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,642 shares in the company, valued at $48,192.70. This trade represents a 51.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.41% of the company’s stock.

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.