Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 2,459 Shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,459 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Kennametal were worth $903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMT. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Kennametal during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 120.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Kennametal by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 50.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Finally, Centiva Capital LP acquired a new stake in Kennametal during the third quarter worth about $230,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey purchased 10,000 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $21.75 per share, for a total transaction of $217,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,687,691.25. This represents a 14.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on KMT shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Kennametal from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.40.

Kennametal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMT opened at $21.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.69. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $22.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.85. Kennametal Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.50 and a fifty-two week high of $32.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.02). Kennametal had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 4.76%. As a group, analysts predict that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Kennametal’s payout ratio is currently 65.57%.

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.