Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Shares Gap Up to $126.09

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $126.09, but opened at $129.29. Kimberly-Clark shares last traded at $127.70, with a volume of 339,413 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KMB shares. Bank of America cut Kimberly-Clark from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $115.00 in a report on Friday, December 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.27.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.6 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $122.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 93.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2.9% in the second quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 2,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1.8% in the second quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Arcus Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3.8% in the third quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.