Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) saw a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,110,000 shares, a growth of 13.3% from the May 31st total of 4,510,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total value of $61,398.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,324.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total transaction of $1,396,116.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,050.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total transaction of $61,398.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,324.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,395 shares of company stock valued at $3,332,776 over the last 90 days. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KMB. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 45.3% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 56.3% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 54,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,557,000 after acquiring an additional 19,555 shares during the period. Logan Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 38.9% during the third quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 10.8% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 323,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,035,000 after acquiring an additional 31,355 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.9% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 49,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,014,000 after acquiring an additional 2,317 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $146.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

KMB stock traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $137.52. The company had a trading volume of 736,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,148,150. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark has a one year low of $116.32 and a one year high of $142.20. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.81.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 250.28%. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.71%.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

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.