Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $149.93.

Several research firms recently issued reports on KMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

KMB opened at $131.45 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The stock has a market cap of $43.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,267,000 after purchasing an additional 273,813 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,409,000 after buying an additional 21,339 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 9.0% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 51,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,294,000 after buying an additional 4,229 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 81.1% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 38,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,471,000 after acquiring an additional 17,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 143.2% during the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,529,000 after acquiring an additional 6,277 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

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.