Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $165.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 29.02% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on KMB. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $175.00 to $161.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.71.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE KMB traded up $0.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $127.89. 707,360 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,862,748. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $42.65 billion, a PE ratio of 16.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s fifty day moving average is $131.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.67. Kimberly-Clark has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.1% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 29,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 72.5% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,787,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 31.9% during the second quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 74.4% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 503,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,984,000 after purchasing an additional 215,000 shares during the period. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10.0% during the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.