Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $373,000 in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KMT. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Kennametal by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,512 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 120.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 50.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Kennametal during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Kennametal from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.40.

Kennametal Stock Performance

NYSE:KMT opened at $19.08 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.55. Kennametal Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.30 and a twelve month high of $32.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.43. 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 (NYSE:KMT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.02). Kennametal had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 4.76%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey purchased 10,000 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.75 per share, with a total value of $217,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 77,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,687,691.25. The trade was a 14.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.41% of the company’s stock.

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.