Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Raises Dividend to $1.26 Per Share

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 1.26 per share on Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.84%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22.

Kimberly-Clark has increased its dividend by an average of 2.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 35 consecutive years. Kimberly-Clark has a payout ratio of 60.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Kimberly-Clark to earn $7.60 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 64.2%.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 2.2 %

KMB stock opened at $131.27 on Tuesday. Kimberly-Clark has a twelve month low of $117.67 and a twelve month high of $149.30. The company has a market cap of $43.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $131.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.56.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. Analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $151.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.71.

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.