Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Announces $1.22 Quarterly Dividend

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of 1.22 per share on Tuesday, July 2nd. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th.

Kimberly-Clark has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 53 consecutive years. Kimberly-Clark has a payout ratio of 65.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Kimberly-Clark to earn $7.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.3%.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $136.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05. The firm has a market cap of $45.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.38. Kimberly-Clark has a 12 month low of $116.32 and a 12 month high of $146.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $127.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.33.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 250.28%. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 1,040 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.86, for a total transaction of $142,334.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,833 shares in the company, valued at $524,584.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 1,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.86, for a total transaction of $142,334.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $524,584.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total value of $61,398.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,324.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,562 shares of company stock worth $2,808,345 over the last quarter. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on KMB. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.85.

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.