Easterly Investment Partners LLC Sells 1,644 Shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT) by 5.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,528 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,644 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Kennametal were worth $719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Kennametal by 119.6% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Kennametal during the first quarter worth about $32,000. First United Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Kennametal in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Kennametal by 191.1% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kennametal during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on Kennametal from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.17.

Kennametal Price Performance

NYSE:KMT traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $26.01. The company had a trading volume of 166,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 665,992. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $24.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.54. Kennametal Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.08 and a 52-week high of $27.05.

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $543.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $532.72 million. Kennametal had a return on equity of 9.35% and a net margin of 5.29%. Kennametal’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Kennametal Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 13th. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sanjay Chowbey purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.28 per share, for a total transaction of $121,400.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,196,275.60. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.