Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Lowers Holdings in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its stake in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 14.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,757 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Kennametal were worth $480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KMT. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 17,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 3,978 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Kennametal by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 58,316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 7,377 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Kennametal by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,989 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 2,130 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Kennametal by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Kennametal by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 426,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,235,000 after purchasing an additional 16,926 shares in the last quarter.

Kennametal Stock Performance

NYSE KMT opened at $21.07 on Friday. Kennametal Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.30 and a 1-year high of $32.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.87.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.06). Kennametal had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The company had revenue of $516.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $527.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. Kennametal’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on KMT shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Kennametal from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $24.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Kennametal in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Kennametal to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Kennametal from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.00.

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.