Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on KMB. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $132.30 on Thursday. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The business’s 50 day moving average is $139.70 and its 200-day moving average is $135.61. The stock has a market cap of $43.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.01 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Cornerstone Advisors Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Advisors Asset Management LLC now owns 2,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1.0% during the first quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter worth $914,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 314,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,197,000 after purchasing an additional 35,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 51.9% in the 1st quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 2,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares during 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.