Kimberly-Clark Earnings Beat Expectations, Raises Dividend

Kimberly-Clark Corp. reported fourth-quarter net income of $505 million, or $1.40 per share, up from $333 million, or 91 cents per share, for the same period last year. Adjusted EPS of $1.45 beat the FactSet consensus of $1.42. Sales for the quarter totaled $4.54 billion, unchanged from last year and below the $4.55 billion FactSet consensus. The company has raised the quarterly dividend by 5.4% to 97 cents per share from 92 cents per share. The dividend will be payable on April 4, 2017 for all shareholders of record as of March 10, 2017. Sales in 2017 are expected to be similar to 2016, which were $18.2 billion. The FactSet consensus is $18.5 billion. And the company sees 2017 EPS of $6.20 to $6.35. The FactSet consensus is $6.27. Kimberly-Clark shares are unchanged in premarket trading, and down 7.7% for the last 12 months. The S&P 500 index is up 18.8% for the past year.