Legato Capital Management LLC Trims Position in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Key Points

• Legato Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Kennametal Inc. by 62.6%, selling 40,592 shares in the first quarter, leaving it with 24,268 shares valued at approximately $517,000.
• In addition to Legato, other institutional investors have been actively modifying their stakes in Kennametal, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its stake by 699.1% in the first quarter.
• Kennametal recently reported an EPS of $0.47 for the quarter, exceeding analyst estimates of $0.26, despite a 5.7% year-over-year decline in revenue.

Legato Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT - Free Report) by 62.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,268 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 40,592 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC's holdings in Kennametal were worth $517,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KMT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kennametal in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,543,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Kennametal by 6.0% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,218,394 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $68,552,000 after buying an additional 181,035 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Kennametal by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 469,202 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $11,270,000 after buying an additional 115,718 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Kennametal by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,134,051 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $123,319,000 after buying an additional 101,159 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Kennametal by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 313,785 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $7,537,000 after acquiring an additional 71,346 shares during the period.

Kennametal Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of KMT stock traded down $0.17 on Tuesday, hitting $25.11. The stock had a trading volume of 147,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,015,732. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.40. Kennametal Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.30 and a 12-month high of $32.18. The business has a 50 day moving average of $23.01 and a 200 day moving average of $22.00.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $486.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $489.30 million. Kennametal had a net margin of 5.45% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Kennametal's dividend payout ratio is presently 57.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KMT. Loop Capital reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $24.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Kennametal in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Barclays increased their target price on Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kennametal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kennametal presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $25.40.

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.