Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 39,800 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,026,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned about 0.05% of Kennametal as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Kennametal in the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kennametal during the 3rd quarter worth $82,000. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the 3rd quarter valued at $96,000. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kennametal in the 3rd quarter valued at $161,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the third quarter worth $221,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KMT. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Kennametal in a report on Monday, January 8th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Kennametal from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kennametal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $24.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kennametal

In related news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,000 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.55, for a total value of $25,550.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,343 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,313.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.61% of the company's stock.

Kennametal Stock Down 3.0 %

KMT stock traded down $0.74 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $23.75. 865,854 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 625,166. The company has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.78. The firm's 50-day moving average is $24.42 and its 200-day moving average is $24.34. Kennametal Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.08 and a 12 month high of $30.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.05. Kennametal had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 5.86%. The business had revenue of $495.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $498.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Kennametal's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. Kennametal's payout ratio is currently 53.33%.

Kennametal declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.