Brokerages Set Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) PT at $143.73

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $143.73.

KMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 1.3%

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $128.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $136.52 and a 200 day moving average of $135.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38. Kimberly-Clark has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total transaction of $234,547.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $405,032.52. This represents a 36.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 74.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $851,000 after buying an additional 2,765 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $482,000. 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.