Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Stock Price

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $130.00 to $140.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup lowered their price target 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.85.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $140.73 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $136.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.05. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $123.84 and a one year high of $150.45. The stock has a market cap of $46.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. 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 (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KMB. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after buying an additional 6,016 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,267,000 after purchasing an additional 273,813 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20,377.6% in the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 33,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,428,000 after purchasing an additional 33,623 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

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.