JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 79,547 Shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT - Free Report) by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 242,439 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 79,547 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.31% of Kennametal worth $6,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Kennametal by 33.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,251,632 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $162,105,000 after buying an additional 1,567,867 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 1.4% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 4,977,697 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $117,175,000 after purchasing an additional 67,327 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 2.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,683,485 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $110,248,000 after purchasing an additional 100,905 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its stake in Kennametal by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 2,332,993 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $54,798,000 after buying an additional 606,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of Kennametal by 1.0% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 2,051,503 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $48,292,000 after acquiring an additional 20,634 shares during the last quarter.

Kennametal Price Performance

NYSE:KMT traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $24.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,215,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 907,443. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 2.52. Kennametal Inc. has a one year low of $22.50 and a one year high of $32.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.61.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $481.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.26 million. Kennametal had a net margin of 4.98% and a return on equity of 8.35%. The company's revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Kennametal's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.50%.

Insider Transactions at Kennametal

In other news, VP Franklin Cardenas sold 20,470 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total value of $578,072.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 39,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,117,767.44. The trade was a 34.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,765 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now owns 1,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,192.70. The trade was a 51.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on KMT. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kennametal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Kennametal from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Kennametal from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Kennametal from $24.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Kennametal presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $27.67.

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.