Morgan Stanley Cuts Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Price Target to $24.00

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $28.00 to $24.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on KMT. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America cut shares of Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Kennametal from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kennametal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.00.

Kennametal Price Performance

Kennametal stock opened at $22.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $24.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of 18.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Kennametal has a 12-month low of $20.50 and a 12-month high of $32.18.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 EPS 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, equities research analysts forecast that Kennametal will post 1.18 EPS for the current year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 39,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,117,767.44. This trade represents a 34.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sanjay Chowbey bought 10,000 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.75 per share, with a total value of $217,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 77,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,687,691.25. This trade represents a 14.79 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Kennametal during the 3rd quarter worth about $804,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Kennametal by 45.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Kennametal by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,815,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,096,000 after acquiring an additional 17,265 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in Kennametal by 113.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 191,151 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,957,000 after purchasing an additional 101,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Kennametal by 48.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 242,439 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,286,000 after purchasing an additional 79,547 shares during the last quarter.

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.