Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $145.67.

KMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $161.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $146.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total transaction of $5,331,392.58. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total transaction of $250,695.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,038,976.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total transaction of $5,331,392.58. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 18.2% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 454,104 shares of the company's stock worth $58,738,000 after acquiring an additional 69,794 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 506.8% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 12,955 shares of the company's stock worth $1,574,000 after acquiring an additional 10,820 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the second quarter worth approximately $14,751,000. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company's stock worth $22,956,000 after acquiring an additional 6,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 25,927 shares of the company's stock worth $3,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,882 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $140.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,593,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,117,425. The company has a market capitalization of $47.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.39. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $116.32 and a 12-month high of $149.30. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $142.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.25. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 223.55%. The business had revenue of $5.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. The business's revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.