Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Given New $144.00 Price Target at Barclays

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its target price hoisted by Barclays from $135.00 to $144.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a neutral rating and a $146.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a buy rating and a $161.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from an underperform rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $167.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $147.07.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $142.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $142.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.71. Kimberly-Clark has a 1 year low of $116.63 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The stock has a market cap of $47.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 72.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

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 stock was sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total value of $250,695.20. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,819,207.70. 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 through this link. Also, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of Kimberly-Clark 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 directly owns 7,377 shares in the company, valued at $1,038,976.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after purchasing an additional 944,920 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,659,000 after purchasing an additional 636,882 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after purchasing an additional 354,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,269,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,559,000 after acquiring an additional 342,790 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.