Kimberly-Clark Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:KMB)

Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 10,629 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 325% compared to the average daily volume of 2,503 call options.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 1.8%

KMB traded down $1.84 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $100.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,758,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,540,162. Kimberly-Clark has a fifty-two week low of $99.60 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The stock has a market cap of $33.32 billion, a PE ratio of 13.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.30. The business’s 50-day moving average is $123.35 and its 200-day moving average is $129.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.37. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 184.87% and a net margin of 12.87%.The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $129.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings assumed coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. They set a “hold (c+)” rating for the company. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $149.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays set a $132.00 price objective on Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 138.2% during the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 38,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,587,000 after purchasing an additional 22,412 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 4.2% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 12,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 32,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,030,000 after purchasing an additional 3,065 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.6% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 601,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,835,000 after purchasing an additional 31,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Winnow Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3,892.3% during the third quarter. Winnow Wealth LLC now owns 8,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 8,057 shares in the last quarter. 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.