Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.22

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of 1.22 per share on Tuesday, July 2nd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%.

Kimberly-Clark has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 53 consecutive years. Kimberly-Clark has a dividend payout ratio of 65.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Kimberly-Clark to earn $7.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.3%.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of KMB traded up $0.03 on Thursday, hitting $136.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,687,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,230,353. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05. Kimberly-Clark has a fifty-two week low of $116.32 and a fifty-two week high of $147.02. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $126.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.38.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.67 earnings per share. Kimberly-Clark's quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total value of $61,398.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,324.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total transaction of $342,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at $1,101,891.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total value of $61,398.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 520 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $70,324.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,562 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,345 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on KMB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $134.85.

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.

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