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

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $149.93.

KMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $138.49 and a 200 day moving average of $139.30. Kimberly-Clark has a 12 month low of $117.67 and a 12 month high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. American Trust raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 3,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 418,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,038,000 after purchasing an additional 70,633 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 9.7% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,830,000 after buying an additional 2,993 shares during the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.7% during the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 17,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,515,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 81.1% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 38,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,471,000 after buying an additional 17,220 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.