Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Lifted to “Hold” at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on KMB. Evercore ISI upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a buy rating and a $161.00 price objective for the company. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $140.85 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark has a fifty-two week low of $116.32 and a fifty-two week high of $145.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $5.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.10 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 1,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.86, for a total transaction of $142,334.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $524,584.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 1,040 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.86, for a total value of $142,334.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $524,584.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total transaction of $342,075.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,891.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,072 shares of company stock valued at $6,340,233 in the last 90 days. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after buying an additional 944,920 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $437,420,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 17.8% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,269,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,559,000 after purchasing an additional 342,790 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,720,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,093,000 after purchasing an additional 48,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 9.8% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,487,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $192,451,000 after buying an additional 132,576 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.