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

Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $145.08.

A number of research firms have weighed in on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $139.33 on Monday. Kimberly-Clark has a 52 week low of $124.10 and a 52 week high of $150.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $137.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The firm has a market cap of $46.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total transaction of $95,978.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This trade represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,872 shares of company stock worth $2,208,684. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 176.1% in the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 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.