Andrew Drexler Sells 2,500 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Stock

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total value of $342,075.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,891.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $136.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,686,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,222,388. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $116.32 and a twelve month high of $147.02. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $126.88 and a 200-day moving average of $123.24. The stock has a market cap of $45.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.38.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on KMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com raised Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.85.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kimberly-Clark

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,191,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $869,090,000 after buying an additional 177,712 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,996,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,815,000 after buying an additional 641,187 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,884,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,345,000 after purchasing an additional 212,739 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,051,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $489,650,000 after buying an additional 155,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $437,420,000. Hedge funds and other 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.