Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.7 %

KMB opened at $144.86 on Thursday. Kimberly-Clark has a fifty-two week low of $123.02 and a fifty-two week high of $149.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of $132.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. On average, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 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.