Ariel Investments LLC Sells 535,468 Shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Ariel Investments LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,660,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 535,468 shares during the quarter. Kennametal comprises approximately 2.2% of Ariel Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Ariel Investments LLC owned about 11.01% of Kennametal worth $203,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,400,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Kennametal by 20.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,903,714 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,813,000 after purchasing an additional 321,876 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Kennametal by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,240,814 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $109,371,000 after purchasing an additional 305,542 shares during the last quarter. Interval Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Kennametal during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,598,000. Finally, Azarias Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Kennametal during the first quarter valued at about $4,795,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on KMT shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Kennametal from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.17.

Kennametal Trading Down 2.1 %

KMT stock opened at $25.38 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.65. Kennametal Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.08 and a 1-year high of $27.04. The business’s 50 day moving average is $25.12 and its 200-day moving average is $24.65.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $543.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $532.72 million. Kennametal had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 5.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.26%.

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.