Legal & General Group Plc Has $5.22 Million Stock Position in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 217,483 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 8,489 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.28% of Kennametal worth $5,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KMT. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in Kennametal by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,573,638 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,819,000 after buying an additional 78,149 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Kennametal by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,543,973 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,106,000 after acquiring an additional 308,000 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Kennametal during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,207,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kennametal by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,815,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,096,000 after purchasing an additional 17,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,479,599 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,540,000 after purchasing an additional 56,104 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on KMT. StockNews.com cut Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Kennametal from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kennametal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.20.

Kennametal Stock Performance

Shares of KMT opened at $18.64 on Monday. 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 0.47, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 15.28, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.55.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.02). Kennametal had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 4.76%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kennametal

In other news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey acquired 10,000 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.75 per share, with a total value of $217,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 77,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,687,691.25. The trade was a 14.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.41% of the company’s stock.

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.