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

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $134.85.

KMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com raised Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 6,390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.59, for a total value of $866,420.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,649 shares in the company, valued at $4,562,467.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 6,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.59, for a total value of $866,420.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,649 shares in the company, valued at $4,562,467.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total value of $342,075.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,891.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,562 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,345 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 383,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,656,000 after purchasing an additional 39,271 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2.6% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 10,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,356,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,487,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $192,451,000 after buying an additional 132,576 shares during the period. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.2% in the first quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 86,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,185,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 60.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 291,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,695,000 after acquiring an additional 109,875 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of KMB opened at $135.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $128.07 and a 200 day moving average of $123.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.38. Kimberly-Clark has a 1-year low of $116.32 and a 1-year high of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.08 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.67 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.71%.

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.