Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $145.08.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KMB. TD Cowen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total transaction of $234,547.56. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $405,032.52. This represents a 36.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,132 shares of company stock worth $2,112,706 in the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $582,592,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10,975.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,510,000 after buying an additional 1,884,877 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Trinity Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter worth $181,762,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $131.63 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. Kimberly-Clark has a 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $150.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. Analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

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.