New York State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Stake in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 101,538 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 15,823 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.13% of Kennametal worth $2,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMT. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Kennametal by 32.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,646,987 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $376,384,000 after purchasing an additional 3,328,786 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC raised its position in Kennametal by 8.9% in the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 9,707,735 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $277,739,000 after purchasing an additional 790,456 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Kennametal by 13.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,042,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,924,000 after purchasing an additional 349,174 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Kennametal by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,247,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $78,125,000 after purchasing an additional 297,345 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kennametal in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,066,000.

Kennametal Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Kennametal stock opened at $23.86 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.78. Kennametal Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.08 and a fifty-two week high of $30.60. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $24.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.36.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $495.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $498.99 million. Kennametal had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 5.86%. Kennametal’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to purchase up to 10.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 13th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 12th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.33%.

Insider Activity at Kennametal

In related news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.55, for a total value of $25,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,313.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays dropped their target price on Kennametal from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Kennametal from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Kennametal in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.58.

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.