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

Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $149.93.

KMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.1 %

KMB opened at $139.35 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $138.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. 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 (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. 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.