Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $145.08.

KMB has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.3%

KMB stock opened at $141.56 on Monday. 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 fifty-two week low of $124.10 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.98. The company has a market cap of $46.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total transaction of $234,547.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $405,032.52. This represents a 36.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 13,372 shares of company stock worth $1,858,684. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,235,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,011,188,000 after purchasing an additional 92,920 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,264,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,601,968,000 after buying an additional 674,046 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,113,444,000 after acquiring an additional 797,953 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,095,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,151,309,000 after acquiring an additional 566,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,827,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $828,811,000 after acquiring an additional 173,915 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.