Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) Short Interest Down 14.4% in May

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,580,000 shares, a decrease of 14.4% from the April 30th total of 4,180,000 shares. Currently, 4.8% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Kennametal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $25.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kennametal

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Kennametal during the first quarter valued at $11,801,000. Cooper Haims Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kennametal during the 1st quarter valued at $7,453,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Kennametal during the 1st quarter worth $7,009,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Kennametal by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,543,973 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $61,106,000 after acquiring an additional 308,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kennametal in the 4th quarter worth about $5,543,000.

Kennametal Stock Performance

Shares of KMT stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $21.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 781,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 889,927. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $20.21 and a 200-day moving average of $22.71. Kennametal has a 52 week low of $17.30 and a 52 week high of $32.18.

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

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Kennametal's payout ratio is 57.55%.

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.