Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark 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 for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $144.86 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $132.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The company has a market capitalization of $48.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $123.02 and a 12-month high of $149.31.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $357,420. This trade represents a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.