Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $126.00.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KMB shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Argus upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $162.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $118.00 to $113.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 9th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 74.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $851,000 after acquiring an additional 2,765 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 69.7% in the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 1.6% in the first quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 5,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. MGB Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter worth $211,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,235,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,011,188,000 after buying an additional 92,920 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:KMB opened at $104.94 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark has a 52 week low of $99.22 and a 52 week high of $150.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $112.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.41, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $34.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.25.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 183.11% and a net margin of 10.89%.Kimberly-Clark’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.28%.

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.