Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Royal Bank of Canada

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $123.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 4.97% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on KMB. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $135.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.93.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB traded up $2.16 on Thursday, reaching $129.43. 1,127,038 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,093,892. The stock has a market cap of $43.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark has a twelve month low of $116.32 and a twelve month high of $147.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $122.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The business had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,050.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,050.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $450,120.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,084,709. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 2.9% during the second quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 2,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1.8% during the second quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 3.8% during the third quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently 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.