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

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

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KMB. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter worth about $280,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 12,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $212,000. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 153,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,907,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 88.6% during the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 84,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,044,000 after acquiring an additional 39,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $138.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. Kimberly-Clark has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The firm has a market cap of $46.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $138.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.17.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. Kimberly-Clark’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.29%.

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.