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

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. HSBC lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.27.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

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 50 day moving average price of $122.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. On average, 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 93.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

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

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.