JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Target Price to $140.00

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its target price decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $142.00 to $140.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

KMB opened at $136.89 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59. The company has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50 day moving average is $143.18 and its 200 day moving average is $138.66. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $116.63 and a 12-month high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 223.55%. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 89.71%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total transaction of $250,695.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,038,976.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,279,000 after buying an additional 944,920 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 17.8% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,269,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,559,000 after buying an additional 342,790 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,383,000 after buying an additional 354,501 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,720,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,093,000 after buying an additional 48,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after buying an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.