Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by TD Cowen

TD Cowen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $145.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on KMB. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $175.00 to $161.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.57.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

KMB stock opened at $126.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.23 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.60. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $117.67 and a 12-month high of $149.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,659,000 after buying an additional 636,882 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,539,000 after buying an additional 503,839 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,625,000 after acquiring an additional 464,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 662,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,278,000 after acquiring an additional 386,510 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

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.