Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $126.00.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on KMB. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $118.00 to $113.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $162.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $129.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Barclays set a $132.00 price objective on Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $149.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ KMB opened at $104.94 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $99.22 and a one year high of $150.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.41, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $34.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $112.88 and its 200-day moving average is $124.98.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.37. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 183.11% and a net margin of 10.89%.The business had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 85.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 11,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% in the second quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

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.