Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after StockNews.com upgraded the stock from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $142.20 and last traded at $141.96, with a volume of 164453 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $141.02.

KMB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays lifted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $167.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.36.

Insider Activity

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total value of $1,396,116.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,050.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total transaction of $342,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,891.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total value of $1,396,116.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 795 shares in the company, valued at $109,050.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,395 shares of company stock valued at $3,332,776 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of KMB. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 12.2% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 36,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,380,000 after buying an additional 3,939 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 3,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $2,529,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 69,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,480,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.6 %

The company has a market cap of $47.79 billion, a PE ratio of 25.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $136.45 and a 200-day moving average of $128.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 250.28%. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.71%.

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.