Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $144.86 on Thursday. Kimberly-Clark has a 1 year low of $123.02 and a 1 year high of $149.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $48.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $132.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.57.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,387,709,000 after purchasing an additional 529,223 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,444,000 after purchasing an additional 797,953 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,529,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $986,616,000 after purchasing an additional 417,118 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

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.