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

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $143.71.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $151.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $175.00 to $161.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $127.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $132.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $137.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.41. Kimberly-Clark has a 52 week low of $117.67 and a 52 week high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KMB. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 2.2% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 19,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,658,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 94.7% in the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 6,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $900,000 after purchasing an additional 3,169 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 6,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,383,000 after purchasing an additional 354,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 8.6% during the second quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 2,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

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.