American Century Companies Inc. Buys 308,000 Shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,543,973 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 308,000 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Kennametal were worth $61,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Kennametal in the 3rd quarter worth about $804,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Kennametal by 45.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. AMH Equity Ltd purchased a new stake in Kennametal in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,441,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Kennametal by 174.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 40,359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 25,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 1.0% in 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 during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on KMT. StockNews.com raised shares of Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Kennametal from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays set a $25.00 target price on Kennametal and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.60.

Insider Transactions at Kennametal

In other news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.75 per share, with a total value of $217,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 77,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,687,691.25. The trade was a 14.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.41% of the company’s stock.

Kennametal Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE KMT opened at $22.21 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $22.61 and its 200 day moving average is $24.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.69. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.50 and a 1 year high of $32.18.

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

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.57%.

Kennametal Profile

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.