Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB – Get Rating) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $131.15.
KMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 22nd. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, September 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $136.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 27th.
Kimberly-Clark Price Performance
Shares of KMB stock opened at $120.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.61 billion, a PE ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $130.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.37. Kimberly-Clark has a twelve month low of $117.32 and a twelve month high of $145.79.
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $5.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 249.60%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 4th. Investors of record on Friday, September 9th will be issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 8th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.71%.
Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of KMB. First Affirmative Financial Network grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 2,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,052,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,243,722,000 after buying an additional 194,143 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $473,552,000. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter valued at about $559,000. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 1,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.36% of the company’s stock.
Kimberly-Clark Company Profile
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Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, swimpants, training and youth pants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, and other related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers, GoodNites, DryNites, Sweety, Kotex, U by Kotex, Intimus, Depend, Plenitud, Softex, Poise, and other brand names.