Piper Sandler Initiates Coverage on Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB)

Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) in a research report sent to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $146.00 price target on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TheStreet lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $145.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. They set a hold rating and a $133.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $118.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $131.93.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $120.54 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $121.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.72. The stock has a market cap of $40.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.38. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $116.32 and a 12-month high of $147.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.81.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.16 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 292.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $1.18 per share. This represents a $4.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Zackery A. Hicks sold 3,020 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.43, for a total transaction of $360,678.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Sandra R. Karrmann sold 5,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.80, for a total value of $664,835.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $808,394.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Zackery A. Hicks sold 3,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.43, for a total transaction of $360,678.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KMB. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 29,102,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,017,895,000 after buying an additional 1,312,765 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,191,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $869,090,000 after buying an additional 177,712 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,660,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $917,368,000 after buying an additional 195,226 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,270,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $707,375,000 after buying an additional 145,688 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,884,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,345,000 after buying an additional 212,739 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.38% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products worldwide. 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.