Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Now Covered by Analysts at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $146.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on KMB. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $141.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE KMB opened at $139.37 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.29. The company has a market cap of $46.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.38. Kimberly-Clark has a 1 year low of $116.32 and a 1 year high of $142.20.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 250.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 89.71%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total transaction of $342,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,891.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total value of $1,396,116.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,050.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total transaction of $342,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,891.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,395 shares of company stock worth $3,332,776 in the last quarter. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after purchasing an additional 944,920 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 14.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,996,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $603,815,000 after acquiring an additional 641,187 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,884,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,345,000 after acquiring an additional 212,739 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $437,420,000. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 17.8% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,269,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,559,000 after acquiring an additional 342,790 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.