Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) Short Interest Update

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 6,290,000 shares, an increase of 8.4% from the September 15th total of 5,800,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 740,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.5 days. Currently, 8.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Kennametal Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:KMT opened at $26.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.76. Kennametal has a 1 year low of $22.08 and a 1 year high of $27.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.65.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.05. Kennametal had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 5.34%. The company had revenue of $543.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $532.72 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Kennametal’s revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Kennametal will post 1.51 EPS for the current year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kennametal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Kennametal by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,240,814 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,371,000 after acquiring an additional 305,542 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 141.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 37,534 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $968,000 after buying an additional 22,010 shares during the period. Azarias Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Kennametal during the 1st quarter worth $4,795,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Kennametal by 85.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 87,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,178,000 after buying an additional 40,193 shares during the period. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal in the first quarter valued at about $324,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on KMT. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kennametal currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.00.

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.