Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Upgraded to “Outperform” by Evercore ISI

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) was upgraded by stock analysts at Evercore ISI from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. The firm presently has a $150.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $133.00. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 17.86% from the company’s current price.

KMB has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $115.00 in a report on Friday, December 15th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $123.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.67.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $127.27 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $122.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.95. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $116.32 and a 12-month high of $147.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the purchase, the director now owns 827 shares in the company, valued at $100,050.46. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the purchase, the director now owns 827 shares in the company, valued at $100,050.46. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $450,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,084,709. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. West Tower Group LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 90.9% during the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. 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.