Morgan Stanley Raises Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Price Target to $28.00

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $24.50 to $28.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 10.15% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America downgraded Kennametal from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com cut Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.83.

Kennametal Price Performance

Shares of KMT stock opened at $25.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.60. Kennametal has a 52-week low of $22.50 and a 52-week high of $32.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 2.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.65.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $481.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.26 million. Kennametal had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 4.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kennametal will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total transaction of $578,072.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 39,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,117,767.44. This represents a 34.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $51,802.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,192.70. This trade represents a 51.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kennametal

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Kennametal by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,251,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $162,105,000 after buying an additional 1,567,867 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in Kennametal by 35.1% in the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,332,993 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,798,000 after acquiring an additional 606,477 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Kennametal in the third quarter worth about $10,295,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kennametal by 20.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,903,714 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,813,000 after acquiring an additional 321,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Interval Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Kennametal during the second quarter valued at about $5,598,000.

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.