StockNews.com Lowers Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning.

Several other research firms have also commented on KMB. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Monday. They set a neutral rating and a $146.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $141.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB opened at $139.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.29. Kimberly-Clark has a 52-week low of $116.32 and a 52-week high of $142.20.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 250.28%. The firm had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 89.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total value of $524,431.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 6,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.59, for a total transaction of $866,420.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,562,467.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total value of $524,431.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,395 shares of company stock worth $3,332,776 in the last three months. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KMB. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 926.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 210 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the first quarter worth $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the first quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by 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.