Empowered Funds LLC Acquires New Shares in Kennametal Inc. $KMT

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC has acquired a new position in Kennametal Inc. with 329,055 shares valued at approximately $7 million, increasing its stake to 0.43% as reported to the SEC.
• Several institutional investors, including Victory Capital Management Inc. and American Century Companies Inc., have also increased their holdings in Kennametal, indicating growing interest in the stock.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Kennametal, with a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a price target of $24, while the stock recently reported earnings that missed estimates.

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 329,055 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $7,009,000. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.43% of Kennametal as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Kennametal by 107.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Kennametal by 93.4% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,145 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,036 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Kennametal in the first quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Kennametal in the first quarter worth about $64,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised Kennametal from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.00 to $21.00 in a report on Friday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Kennametal from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Kennametal to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Loop Capital reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $24.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Kennametal in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kennametal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kennametal currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Kennametal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KMT traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $20.79. The stock had a trading volume of 677,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 876,839. The company has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 1.44. Kennametal Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.30 and a twelve month high of $32.18. The business's fifty day moving average is $22.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $516.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $527.52 million. Kennametal had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Kennametal's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Kennametal Company 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.