Piper Sandler Cuts Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Price Target to $156.00

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its target price lowered by Piper Sandler from $158.00 to $156.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

KMB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $131.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The business’s 50 day moving average is $139.62 and its 200-day moving average is $135.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark has a 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $150.45.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 3.83%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 6,016 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,267,000 after buying an additional 273,813 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20,377.6% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 33,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,428,000 after acquiring an additional 33,623 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.