Barclays Boosts Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Price Target to $144.00

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its price objective increased by Barclays from $135.00 to $144.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a buy rating and a $161.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an underperform rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $149.14.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $142.25 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.85. Kimberly-Clark has a 1 year low of $116.63 and a 1 year high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $5.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.10 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 223.55%. Kimberly-Clark’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.71%.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total transaction of $250,695.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,038,976.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 7,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,038,976.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total transaction of $5,331,392.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 5,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $825,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 7,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 10,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,296,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,253,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 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.