Andrew Drexler Sells 2,500 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Stock

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total value of $342,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,101,891.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.3 %

KMB opened at $136.10 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $127.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.33. The company has a market capitalization of $45.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.02, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.38. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $116.32 and a 52 week high of $146.15. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.08 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. Analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $133.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.85.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,191,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $869,090,000 after acquiring an additional 177,712 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,996,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $603,815,000 after purchasing an additional 641,187 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,884,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,345,000 after purchasing an additional 212,739 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,051,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $489,650,000 after purchasing an additional 155,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth $437,420,000. 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.