Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Kimberly-Clark Call Options (NASDAQ:KMB)

Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 10,715 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 58% compared to the average daily volume of 6,801 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KMB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $149.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KMB. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 11,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% during the second quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.9% in the second quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $568,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.2% during the second quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silver Coast Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.2% in the first quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 1,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NASDAQ:KMB traded down $1.61 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $106.93. 3,634,883 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,909,360. The company has a market cap of $35.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.26. Kimberly-Clark has a 1 year low of $99.22 and a 1 year high of $150.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $113.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.61.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.37. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 184.87%. The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 85.28%.

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.