Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

KMB has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of KMB opened at $132.79 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.51. The company has a market capitalization of $44.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Kimberly-Clark has a 1-year low of $117.93 and a 1-year high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 66.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after buying an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at $582,592,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,142,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,786,000 after buying an additional 1,328,341 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,141 shares in the last quarter. 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.