Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Friday.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $136.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $143.36.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.4 %

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $141.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $136.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.90. Kimberly-Clark has a fifty-two week low of $116.32 and a fifty-two week high of $142.41. The company has a market capitalization of $47.65 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.37.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.71%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the firm’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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now owns 795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,050.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total transaction of $61,398.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 520 shares in the company, valued at $70,324.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,395 shares of company stock worth $3,332,776 over the last ninety days. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 36,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,380,000 after acquiring an additional 3,939 shares during the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 25.0% in the third quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 3,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 46.3% in the fourth 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 last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $253,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.