Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Kennametal (NYSE:KMT) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The industrial products company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $515.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $518.50 million. Kennametal had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 5.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. Kennametal updated its FY24 guidance to $1.40-1.55 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 1.400-1.550 EPS.

Kennametal Stock Performance

Shares of KMT traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $25.96. 515,167 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 631,083. Kennametal has a 1-year low of $22.08 and a 1-year high of $30.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.76. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 2.44.

Kennametal Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Kennametal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.33%.

Kennametal declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to purchase up to 10.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Kennametal

In other news, VP John Wayne Witt sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.55, for a total transaction of $25,550.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,343 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,313.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on KMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Kennametal from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.75.

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.