Brokerages Set Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Target Price at $132.43

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $132.43.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on KMB shares. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 827 shares in the company, valued at $100,050.46. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Kimberly-Clark news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 827 shares in the company, valued at $100,050.46. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value of $450,120.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,229 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,084,709. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Columbus Macro LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the first quarter valued at about $2,043,000. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the first quarter valued at about $69,000. Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 18.2% in the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 7,209 shares of the company's stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109 shares during the last quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 13.3% in the first quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the company's stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.6% in the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 16,170 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,092,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB traded down $2.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $123.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,661,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,092,909. Kimberly-Clark has a 12 month low of $116.32 and a 12 month high of $147.87. The firm has a market cap of $41.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $123.75 and a 200-day moving average of $122.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The firm had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. Kimberly-Clark's revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.85%.

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.