Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Price Target Raised to $131.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $125.00 to $131.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on KMB. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a buy rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America cut Kimberly-Clark from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Barclays lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $119.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $132.27.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.6 %

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $129.33 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $122.49 and its 200-day moving average is $121.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.82. Kimberly-Clark has a 1 year low of $116.32 and a 1 year high of $147.87. The company has a market cap of $43.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.87, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The business had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.85%.

Insider Activity

In other Kimberly-Clark news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,050.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mark T. Smucker acquired 827 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 827 shares in the company, valued at $100,050.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value of $450,120.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,229 shares in the company, valued at $2,084,709. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $4,253,000. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 240,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,103,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the period. Rockline Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $1,661,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,671,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,740,000 after purchasing an additional 368,505 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products in the United States. It operates through three segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The company's Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swimpants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, reusable underwear, and other related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers, GoodNites, DryNites, Sweety, Kotex, U by Kotex, Intimus, Thinx, Poise, Depend, Plenitud, Softex, and other brand names.