Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Stock

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the industrial products company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective indicates a potential downside of 2.89% from the company's current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on KMT. StockNews.com raised shares of Kennametal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays dropped their target price on Kennametal from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $25.40.

Kennametal Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMT traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $21.63. The company had a trading volume of 217,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 867,675. Kennametal has a twelve month low of $17.30 and a twelve month high of $32.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $20.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.48.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $486.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $489.30 million. Kennametal had a net margin of 4.76% and a return on equity of 8.12%. Kennametal's revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Kennametal will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Kennametal news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey bought 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $21.75 per share, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 14.79% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.41% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Kennametal

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMT. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Kennametal by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Kennametal by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 34,150 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $727,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,614 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $831,000 after buying an additional 609 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Kennametal by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,512 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Kennametal by 120.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares during the last quarter.

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.

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