Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $144.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on KMB. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.50.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB stock opened at $127.53 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $133.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.62. Kimberly-Clark has a 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $150.45. The company has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total value of $95,978.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at $582,592,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10,975.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,510,000 after buying an additional 1,884,877 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2,982.8% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,384,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,878,000 after buying an additional 1,339,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

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.