Brokerages Set Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Price Target at $143.64

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $143.64.

Several research firms recently issued reports on KMB. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business’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 value of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.5% in the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 11.4% during the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $844,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter worth $167,000. Tobam increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 12.6% during the third quarter. Tobam now owns 1,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $192,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 55.4% during the third quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 411,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,574,000 after acquiring an additional 146,795 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.5 %

KMB stock opened at $133.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $117.67 and a 12-month high of $149.30. The stock has a market cap of $44.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.73, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50-day moving average is $129.99 and its 200 day moving average is $136.60.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 64.64%.

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.