Kimberly-Clark Hikes Dividend - Analyst Blog
March 01 2012 - 10:22AM
Zacks
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB), with its
quarterly dividend hike to 74 cents per share from 70 cents per
share, boasts of a record of dividend increase for 40 years
consecutively.
The company hiked its dividend by 6% and the increased dividend
is payable on April 3, 2012 to shareholders of record on March 9,
2012.
The move comes a month after the company posted outstanding
fourth quarter and fiscal 2011 earnings of $1.28 and $4.80 per
share, which were 7.0% and 2.6% higher than the year-ago earnings.
The growth was mainly attributable to sales growth, cost savings
and a lower share count. However, these were partially offset by
rising input cost inflation, higher effective tax rate and lower
net income from equity companies.
Though the company did not repurchase any common stock in the
fourth quarter of 2011, Kimberly-Clark‘s total buybacks in fiscal
2011 totaled 19.0 million shares at a cost of $1.24 billion. In
addition, share repurchases are expected to total $900 million to
$1.1 billion in fiscal 2012, subject to market conditions.
Kimberly-Clark was anticipating this dividend increase although
cash provided by operations in the fourth quarter of 2011 amounted
to $517 million as compared to $948 million in the prior-year
quarter. The decline was driven by increased working capital
compared to a significant decrease in the year-ago period, along
with higher defined benefit pension plan contributions, partially
offset by improved cash earnings.
Cash provided by operations in fiscal 2011 was also lower than
2010 at $2.29 billion, driven by higher pension contributions in
2011.
Capital spending in the fourth quarter of 2011 was $312 million
as compared to $353 million in 2010, whereas it amounted to $968
million in fiscal 2011. However, the capital spending in fiscal
2012 is expected to be in line with the company's long-term target
of 4.5% to 5.5% of net sales, in the range of $1.0 to $1.1
billion.
Recently, The Coca Cola Company (KO) also hiked
its quarterly dividend by 8.5% to 51 cents per share from 47 cents
per share. The dividend is payable on April 1, 2012 to
shareholders of record on March 15, 2012.
Kimberly-Clark, which competes with Procter & Gamble
Co. (PG), currently holds a Zacks #3 Rank, which
translates into a short-term Hold rating. On a long-term basis, we
maintain a Neutral rating on the stock.
KIMBERLY CLARK (KMB): Free Stock Analysis Report
COCA COLA CO (KO): Free Stock Analysis Report
PROCTER & GAMBL (PG): Free Stock Analysis Report
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