Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Announces $1.22 Quarterly Dividend

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 1st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of 1.22 per share on Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%.

Kimberly-Clark has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 53 years. Kimberly-Clark has a dividend payout ratio of 63.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Kimberly-Clark to earn $7.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.2%.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $135.05 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $45.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $138.03 and its 200-day moving average is $130.52. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $116.32 and a one year high of $145.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.25. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. The business had revenue of $5.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total transaction of $524,431.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total value of $524,431.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total value of $250,695.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,038,976.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 43,312 shares of company stock worth $6,106,519. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

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.