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

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB – Get Rating) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $132.69.

KMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, April 25th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $129.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 29th.

KMB stock opened at $139.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.49, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $133.40. Kimberly-Clark has a 52 week low of $117.32 and a 52 week high of $145.79. The company has a market capitalization of $46.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.37.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.92 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 8.86% and a return on equity of 253.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 5.82 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 10th will be given a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 9th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.40%.

In related news, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 2,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total transaction of $283,804.73. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,371.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 15,302 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.63, for a total transaction of $2,182,524.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,940,296.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,696 shares of company stock worth $8,807,911 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 602.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,128,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $944,089,000 after purchasing an additional 6,113,540 shares in the last quarter. Cowa LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $473,552,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,482,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $991,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,363,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 27,386,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,372,921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.32% of the company’s stock.

About Kimberly-Clark (Get Rating)

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, swimpants, training and youth pants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, and other related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers, GoodNites, DryNites, Sweety, Kotex, U by Kotex, Intimus, Depend, Plenitud, Softex, Poise, and other brand names.

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