Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys New Shares in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 11,770 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMT. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of Kennametal by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 27,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 56,104 shares during the period. AMH Equity Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Kennametal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,441,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Kennametal by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 44,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,066,000 after buying an additional 1,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 23,671 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kennametal

In other news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey acquired 10,000 shares of Kennametal stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $21.75 per share, for a total transaction of $217,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,687,691.25. This represents a 14.79 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.41% of the company’s stock.

Kennametal Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Kennametal stock opened at $22.07 on Thursday. Kennametal Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.50 and a 52-week high of $32.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.57 and a 200-day moving average of $24.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid 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 3.63%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on KMT shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Kennametal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $40.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Kennametal from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Kennametal from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.40.

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.