Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB)

Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 10,629 call options on the company. This is an increase of 325% compared to the average volume of 2,503 call options.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

KMB stock opened at $100.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $33.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.30. Kimberly-Clark has a 1 year low of $99.60 and a 1 year high of $150.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $122.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $129.33.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 184.87% and a net margin of 12.87%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 11,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,531,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 6,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $118.00 to $113.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $129.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.80.

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.