JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Price Target to $124.00

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) had its target price lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $140.00 to $124.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on KMB. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $175.00 to $161.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.71.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:KMB opened at $127.33 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.41. Kimberly-Clark has a 1-year low of $117.67 and a 1-year high of $149.30. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $132.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $137.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KMB. State Street Corp raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 988,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,506,000 after purchasing an additional 576,610 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1,427.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 589,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,284,000 after purchasing an additional 551,158 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,625,000 after acquiring an additional 464,615 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.