Kimberly-Clark Co. (KMB) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 6th

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 1st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of 1.26 per share on Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th.

Kimberly-Clark has increased its dividend by an average of 2.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 54 consecutive years. Kimberly-Clark has a payout ratio of 66.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Kimberly-Clark to earn $7.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.0%.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.50 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $137.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.46. The company has a market cap of $46.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $124.10 and a one year high of $150.45.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.08.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total transaction of $95,978.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Kimberly-Clark stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 74.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,494 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,765 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

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.