Evercore ISI Has Lowered Expectations for Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Stock Price

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its target price reduced by Evercore ISI from $168.00 to $155.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Finally, TD Cowen cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB opened at $131.58 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark has a 12 month low of $124.10 and a 12 month high of $150.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $139.62 and its 200-day moving average is $135.54. The firm has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $357,420. The trade was a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,267,000 after buying an additional 273,813 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at $212,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 12,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter worth about $280,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

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.