Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Price Target Lowered to $156.00 at Piper Sandler

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its target price lowered by Piper Sandler from $158.00 to $156.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE KMB opened at $131.58 on Wednesday. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $124.10 and a one year high of $150.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.01 EPS. Research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.66%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,605,079,000 after buying an additional 4,603,787 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $582,592,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10,975.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,877 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,142,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,341 shares during the period. Finally, Trinity Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter worth approximately $181,762,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

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.