Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 2,459 Shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 37,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,459 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Kennametal were worth $903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Kennametal during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Kennametal by 120.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Kennametal by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Kennametal by 50.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Finally, Centiva Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the 3rd quarter valued at $230,000.

Insider Activity at Kennametal

In other news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.75 per share, with a total value of $217,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,687,691.25. This trade represents a 14.79 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Kennametal Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:KMT opened at $21.62 on Friday. Kennametal Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.50 and a 1 year high of $32.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

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 of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Kennametal’s payout ratio is 65.57%.

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.