Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) Short Interest Update

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,080,000 shares, a drop of 9.3% from the January 15th total of 5,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 964,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.3 days. Approximately 6.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Kennametal Trading Up 0.2 %

KMT traded up $0.05 on Monday, hitting $22.52. The company had a trading volume of 778,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 950,510. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.46, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.66. Kennametal has a 1 year low of $20.50 and a 1 year high of $32.18. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.48. 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 (NYSE:KMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kennametal will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total transaction of $578,072.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 39,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,117,767.44. This trade represents a 34.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sanjay Chowbey acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $21.75 per share, for a total transaction of $217,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,687,691.25. This trade represents a 14.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kennametal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Kennametal during the fourth quarter worth about $421,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kennametal by 42.2% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 23,462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 6,959 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Kennametal by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 44,294 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Kennametal by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 46,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 13,943 shares during the period. Finally, Dean Capital Management increased its stake in Kennametal by 44.2% during the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 103,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,478,000 after purchasing an additional 31,639 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Loop Capital lifted 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. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Kennametal from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Kennametal from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

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.