State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Holdings in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,051 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,535 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.10% of Kennametal worth $1,803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kennametal in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,207,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Kennametal by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,251,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $162,105,000 after buying an additional 1,567,867 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,295,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kennametal by 141.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 258,910 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,714,000 after buying an additional 151,480 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Kennametal by 1,235.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 126,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,284,000 after acquiring an additional 117,162 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey bought 10,000 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.75 per share, with a total value of $217,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,595 shares in the company, valued at $1,687,691.25. The trade was a 14.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was 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 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on KMT shares. Barclays cut their target price on Kennametal from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Loop Capital increased their target price 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 downgraded shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $40.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.00.

Kennametal Stock Performance

NYSE KMT opened at $22.24 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.39. Kennametal Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.50 and a 1-year high of $32.18.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.