Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Upgraded to Hold by Argus

Argus upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $136.00 to $135.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $167.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $140.85 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark has a 52 week low of $116.32 and a 52 week high of $145.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.44 billion, a PE ratio of 25.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $137.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $130.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.25. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm had revenue of $5.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 89.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 1,040 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.86, for a total value of $142,334.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,833 shares in the company, valued at $524,584.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 1,040 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.86, for a total value of $142,334.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,833 shares in the company, valued at $524,584.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 19,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,072 shares of company stock valued at $6,340,233 over the last quarter. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KMB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $437,420,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,279,000 after acquiring an additional 944,920 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,926,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,114,000 after acquiring an additional 370,094 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 277.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 472,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,466,000 after acquiring an additional 347,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 69.2% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 779,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,793,000 after acquiring an additional 318,680 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.