Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) Short Interest Update

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kennametal

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KMT. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Kennametal by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,134,051 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $123,319,000 after acquiring an additional 101,159 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Kennametal by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,218,394 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $68,552,000 after buying an additional 181,035 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Kennametal by 9.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,778,368 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $59,179,000 after purchasing an additional 234,395 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its position in Kennametal by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,573,638 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $61,819,000 after acquiring an additional 78,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,529,095 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $32,570,000 after purchasing an additional 49,496 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on KMT shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kennametal from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kennametal presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $25.80.

Kennametal Price Performance

KMT traded up $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $21.85. 180,962 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 884,385. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Kennametal has a one year low of $17.30 and a one year high of $32.18. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $20.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.80.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Kennametal had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 4.76%. The business had revenue of $486.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $489.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Kennametal will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Kennametal's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.55%.

Kennametal Company 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.