Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Receives $141.64 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $141.64.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total value of $1,396,116.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,050.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,050.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at $1,101,891.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,395 shares of company stock worth $3,332,776. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $437,420,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after acquiring an additional 944,920 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 14.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,996,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,815,000 after purchasing an additional 641,187 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 31.4% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,197,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,530,000 after purchasing an additional 524,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,926,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,114,000 after purchasing an additional 370,094 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $138.20 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $116.32 and a one year high of $142.20. The company has a market cap of $46.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $135.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.56.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 250.28%. The firm’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 89.71%.

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.