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

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $143.64.

A number of brokerages recently commented on KMB. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,605,079,000 after acquiring an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth approximately $582,592,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,142,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328,341 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,141 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $144.86 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The company has a market cap of $48.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark has a 52 week low of $123.02 and a 52 week high of $149.31. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $132.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.46.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 66.75%.

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.