Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.14 EPS

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14, Briefing.com reports. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.1 %

KMB traded down $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $136.86. The company had a trading volume of 179,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,111,046. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $143.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.66. The company has a market cap of $46.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.39. 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 has a 12 month low of $116.63 and a 12 month high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 89.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 directly owns 7,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,038,976.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.93.

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.