Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $132.43.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KMB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. 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, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $123.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Thursday, March 28th.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 123,302.7% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,430,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $601,394,000 after buying an additional 4,426,568 shares in the last quarter. Cowa LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter valued at about $54,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $437,420,000. Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 13,781.2% during the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 2,763,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,361,000 after buying an additional 2,743,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 74.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,442,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,189,000 after buying an additional 1,046,155 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $123.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $123.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.17. Kimberly-Clark has a twelve month low of $116.32 and a twelve month high of $147.87. The company has a market capitalization of $41.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 260.47%. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.85%.

About Kimberly-Clark

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.