Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Receives $140.90 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $142.70.

KMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KMB. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 46.4% in the first quarter. Elevate Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,770,000 after purchasing an additional 3,944 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 127,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,145,000 after buying an additional 9,643 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 270.2% in the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 984,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,043,000 after acquiring an additional 718,720 shares in the last quarter. Farmers Trust Co. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 108.6% during the 1st quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 45,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,412,000 after acquiring an additional 23,472 shares during the period. Finally, United Community Bank boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 340.0% during the first quarter. United Community Bank now owns 18,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,634,000 after acquiring an additional 14,309 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.9%

KMB stock opened at $133.14 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $124.10 and a one year high of $150.45. The company has a market capitalization of $44.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.33. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $131.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.25. 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 firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 69.42%.

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.