Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Stake in Kennametal Inc. $KMT

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Kennametal Inc. by 26.7%, purchasing an additional 51,654 shares during the quarter.
• Barclays raised its target price on Kennametal from $22 to $24, while JPMorgan reduced it from $23 to $20, indicating mixed analyst sentiment around the stock.
• Kennametal reported a missed earnings estimate of $0.34 EPS for the last quarter and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20, reflecting a yield of 3.8%.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT - Free Report) by 26.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 245,324 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 51,654 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.32% of Kennametal worth $5,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Kennametal by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 17,566 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 3,978 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in Kennametal by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 58,316 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 7,377 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Kennametal by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,989 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $432,000 after purchasing an additional 2,130 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Kennametal by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,437 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Kennametal by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 426,083 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $10,235,000 after purchasing an additional 16,926 shares in the last quarter.

Kennametal Stock Up 4.6%

Shares of NYSE KMT traded up $0.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.76. 271,562 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,084,881. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.44. Kennametal Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.30 and a 1 year high of $32.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.15 and a 200 day moving average of $21.79.

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

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Kennametal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KMT. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $24.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Kennametal in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Kennametal from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group raised Kennametal from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Friday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Kennametal from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Kennametal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $24.00.

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.