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

Shares of Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $118.3333.

KMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BNP Paribas Exane restated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Monday, December 1st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $107.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $162.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 14.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,435,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,212,942,000 after acquiring an additional 5,200,011 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter worth $556,114,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 50.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,839,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $790,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,628,206 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 350.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,583,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,830,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,615,382,000 after buying an additional 997,397 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:KMB opened at $102.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.30, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.26. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $96.26 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $102.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.41.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 85.28%.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

Kimberly-Clark Corporation is a U.S.-based multinational manufacturer of personal care and consumer tissue products. The company develops, produces and markets a range of consumer brands and professional products, including facial and bathroom tissues, disposable diapers and training pants, feminine care, incontinence products and workplace hygiene solutions. Known for consumer-facing names such as Kleenex, Huggies, Kotex, Cottonelle and Scott, as well as professional offerings under Kimberly-Clark Professional and KleenGuard, the company supplies goods to retail, healthcare and institutional customers.

Founded in 1872 in Neenah, Wisconsin, Kimberly-Clark has expanded from its 19th-century paper-making roots into a global household and workplace products company.