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

Key Points

• Kimberly-Clark Co. has a consensus rating of "Hold" from ten brokerages, with one sell recommendation, six holds, and three buys, while the average price target stands at $142.70.
• Recent institutional investments saw Vanguard Group increase its stake by 14.8%, highlighting strong interest among large investors in the company's stock.
• The company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates but showing a 1.6% year-over-year revenue decline.

Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $142.70.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $139.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, July 18th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $144.00 target price on the stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,435,476 shares of the company's stock worth $5,212,942,000 after acquiring an additional 5,200,011 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter worth $556,114,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 10,975.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902,050 shares of the company's stock worth $270,510,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,877 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2,982.8% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,384,318 shares of the company's stock worth $196,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339,413 shares during the period. Finally, Trinity Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $181,762,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $124.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $129.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.32. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.42%.

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.

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