Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and four have given 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 $145.08.

KMB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total transaction of $95,978.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at $518,410.90. This trade represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $350,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $357,420. This trade represents a 49.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,872 shares of company stock valued at $2,208,684. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company's stock worth $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at $582,592,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 10,975.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $270,510,000 after buying an additional 1,884,877 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 2,982.8% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,384,318 shares of the company's stock worth $196,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,142,749 shares of the company's stock valued at $280,786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328,341 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.33 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.23 billion, a PE ratio of 18.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company's fifty day moving average price is $137.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.75. Kimberly-Clark has a 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. On average, 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 will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

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.

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