Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Receives $149.93 Average PT from Analysts

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $149.93.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of KMB stock opened at $139.20 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. Kimberly-Clark has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $138.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after buying an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,431,443,000 after buying an additional 358,926 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,675,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,092,388,000 after buying an additional 206,671 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,712,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,900,000 after buying an additional 20,953 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after buying an additional 354,501 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.