Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

KMB has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

KMB stock opened at $130.29 on Thursday. Kimberly-Clark has a 1-year low of $117.67 and a 1-year high of $149.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $130.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.84. The company has a market capitalization of $43.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.26, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,387,709,000 after purchasing an additional 529,223 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,675,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,092,388,000 after purchasing an additional 206,671 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,040,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,459,000 after purchasing an additional 30,312 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,625,000 after buying an additional 464,615 shares during the period. 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.