Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) PT Raised to $123.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its price objective upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $115.00 to $123.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on KMB. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and issued a $123.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $134.85.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB opened at $135.24 on Wednesday. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $116.32 and a one year high of $147.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 250.28%. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 6.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total value of $1,396,116.26. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 795 shares in the company, valued at $109,050.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total transaction of $1,396,116.26. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 795 shares in the company, valued at $109,050.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark T. Smucker acquired 827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,050.46. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,191,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $869,090,000 after buying an additional 177,712 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,996,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,815,000 after buying an additional 641,187 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,884,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,345,000 after acquiring an additional 212,739 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,051,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $489,650,000 after acquiring an additional 155,066 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $437,420,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.