Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) Receives $114.93 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $114.9286.

KMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Scribner sold 4,095 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.00, for a total transaction of $401,310.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 1,596 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.34, for a total value of $152,162.64. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $797,233.08. This represents a 16.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,096 shares of company stock worth $689,687. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 26,997.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,368,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $743,399,000 after purchasing an additional 7,341,215 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth $521,184,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 50.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 29.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,661,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,673,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 459.9% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,695,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,591,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,873 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ KMB opened at $94.47 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $92.42 and a one year high of $137.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.38, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.83, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.28.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.80% and a return on equity of 152.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $1.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $5.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 80.38%.

About Kimberly-Clark

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.