Sure Dividend

Updated on July 9th, 2025 by Felix Martinez

Kimberly-Clark (KMB) has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years, joining the list of Dividend Kings. The Dividend Kings are a select group of 55 stocks that have increased their dividends for at least 50 consecutive years.

We believe the Dividend Kings are among the highest-quality dividend growth stocks to buy and hold for the long term.

With this in mind, we created a full list of all 55 Dividend Kings. You can download the full list, along with important financial metrics such as dividend yields and price-to-earnings ratios, by clicking on the link below:

Click here to instantly download your free spreadsheet of all Dividend Kings now, along with important investing metrics.

Kimberly-Clark is a global leader in its industry and is expected to continue growing its dividend each year, even during recessions.

This article will provide an overview of the company’s business, discuss its growth prospects, highlight its competitive advantages, and outline the expected returns.

Business Overview

Kimberly-Clark’s origins date back to 1872. Four young businessmen, John A. Kimberly, Havilah Babcock, Charles B. Clark, and Frank C. Shattuck, raised $30,000 in start-up capital to form Kimberly-Clark Co.

Today, Kimberly-Clark is a global consumer products company operating in 175 countries, selling disposable consumer goods such as paper towels, diapers, and tissues.

It operates segments that each house many popular brands: the Personal Care Segment (Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex, Depend, Poise), the Consumer Tissue segment (Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, and Viva), and a professional segment. In total, KMB generates approximately $20 billion in annual revenue.

Source: Investor Presentation

Kimberly-Clark reported Q1 2025 net sales of $4.8 billion, down 6.0% from $5.1 billion in Q1 2024, driven by a 2.4% currency translation impact, a 2.0% effect from divestitures (PPE and private label diaper business exits), and a 1.6% organic sales decline due to lower pricing. Net income fell 12.4% to $567 million ($1.70 per diluted share) from $647 million ($1.91 per diluted share). Adjusted EPS dropped 4.0% to $1.93, reflecting lower adjusted operating profit and equity income, partially offset by a lower tax rate (21.4% vs. 23.6%). Adjusted operating profit was $844 million, down 6.0%, with a gross margin of 36.9% (down 20 basis points). Operating cash flow decreased to $327 million from $438 million.

Segment results showed North America (NA) sales decreased by 3.9% to $2.7 billion, with organic sales down 0.6%, but operating profit increased by 1.3% to $676 million, driven by productivity savings. International Personal Care (IPC) sales declined 8.9% to $1.4 billion, with organic sales down 2.8% and operating profit down 19.8% to $194 million, primarily due to currency and pricing investments. International Family Care & Professional (IFP) sales dropped 7.7% to $791 million, with organic sales down 2.3% and operating profit down 3.6% to $106 million. The company returned $466 million to shareholders via dividends and repurchases, with total debt reduced to $7.2 billion from $7.4 billion.

Kimberly-Clark updated its 2025 outlook, expecting organic sales growth of 1.5–2%, outpacing category growth, but lowered adjusted operating profit and EPS to flat-to-positive on a constant-currency basis due to geopolitical cost pressures. Reported net sales are expected to face a 2% currency headwind and a 2.4% divestiture impact. Adjusted free cash flow is now projected at $2 billion, down from over $2 billion. CEO Mike Hsu emphasized strong execution, productivity momentum, and innovation, positioning the company to offset supply chain costs and drive long-term growth despite a dynamic environment.

Source: Investor Presentation

Growth Prospects

Kimberly-Clark has committed to elevating its core brands as one of the three pillars of growth in the coming years. It will achieve this by launching various product innovations through extensions of existing lines and introducing entirely new products. It can also leverage its strong brands to increase prices over time.

It will also utilize its significant marketing investments to target under-penetrated categories, driving market share gains and ultimately achieving higher revenue and profit.

Source: Investor Presentation

The next growth pillar is accelerating growth in its developing and emerging (D&E) markets, which comprise a significant portion of the company’s sales. The company will focus on its personal care and professional segments in particular, with its most important opportunities arising from areas where it has low category penetration and low frequency of usage.

The company’s focus on D&E development in Latin America and China, particularly in smaller markets, is also seeing a significant push. Kimberly-Clark plans to leverage its considerable supply chain and marketing experience to pursue growth in areas where it currently underperforms, which should help drive some incremental growth.

Kimberly-Clark also continues to pursue cost savings. Thanks to share repurchases and cost reduction programs, it has increased its earnings per share.

Overall, we expect 3% annual EPS growth over the next five years.

Competitive Advantages & Recession Performance

Kimberly-Clark’s most critical competitive advantages are its brands and global scale. The company enjoys a leadership position across its brand portfolio and, indeed, worldwide.

It retains its competitive advantages through marketing and innovation. Kimberly-Clark spends over $1 billion annually on advertising and research and development, which allows the company to stay ahead of the competition. Given its commitment to its growth pillars, we expect this trend to continue increasing over time.

Additionally, Kimberly-Clark’s global reach enables the company to maintain low costs. The FORCE (Focused On Reducing Costs Everywhere) program exemplifies its ability to manage costs, even as revenue grows, and has seen years of success in reducing operating costs.

Kimberly-Clark remains highly profitable, even during recessions. For example, it performed well through the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Its earnings-per-share through the Great Recession are shown below:

• 2007 earnings-per-share of $4.25
• 2008 earnings-per-share of $4.06 (4.5% decline)
• 2009 earnings-per-share of $4.52 (11% increase)
• 2010 earnings-per-share of $4.45 (1.5% decline)

As you can see, while Kimberly-Clark’s earnings declined in 2008 and 2010, it also registered a double-digit growth rate in 2009. The company’s strong performance during the recession is due to its selling products that consumers need regardless of economic conditions.

Consumers will always need personal care products, regardless of the state of the economy. This gives Kimberly-Clark a certain level of product demand each year, even during recessions.

Valuation & Expected Returns

Based on our adjusted earnings-per-share estimate of $7.10 for the fiscal year 2025, Kimberly-Clark trades for a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.5.

Excluding outlier years, Kimberly-Clark has traded at an average price-to-earnings ratio of about 19.0 over the last decade. Thus, we will use 19 times earnings as our estimate of the stock’s fair value. The valuation has somewhat moderated, but shares trade just below our fair value estimate.

If the stock valuation increases to 19.0 over the next five years, it would result in an annual return increase of 0.6%. Additionally, future returns will be generated from earnings growth and dividend payments. We expect Kimberly-Clark to achieve 3% annual EPS growth. The stock also has a 3.8% dividend yield. We see annual returns of 7% over the next five years.

Given the strong yield, 50+ year history of dividend increases, and moderate growth expectations, we rate the stock a hold for dividend growth investors. The stock is not a buy now, as total expected returns are below 10%.

Final Thoughts

Kimberly-Clark is a high-quality company with a diverse portfolio of strong brands. It has positive growth prospects moving forward, and it is a highly reliable dividend stock. Emerging markets, cost reductions, and share repurchases are expected to drive future earnings growth.

Kimberly-Clark has increased its dividend for 53 consecutive years and currently has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Therefore, it meets our definition of a blue-chip stock and is expected to continue delivering steady dividend increases each year.

Additional Reading

The following databases of stocks contain stocks with very long dividend or corporate histories, ripe for selection for dividend growth investors.

• • The Dividend Aristocrats List: S&P 500 stocks with 25+ years of dividend increases.
  • The High Yield Dividend Aristocrats List is comprised of the 20 Dividend Aristocrats with the highest current yields.
  • The Dividend Achievers List is comprised of ~350 stocks with 10+ years of consecutive dividend increases.
  • The High Yield Dividend Kings List is comprised of the 20 Dividend Kings with the highest current yields.
  • The Blue Chip Stocks List: stocks that qualify as Dividend Achievers, Dividend Aristocrats, and/or Dividend Kings
  • The High Dividend Stocks List: stocks that appeal to investors interested in the highest yields of 5% or more.
  • The Monthly Dividend Stocks List: stocks that pay dividends every month, for 12 dividend payments per year.
  • The Dividend Champions List: stocks that have increased their dividends for 25+ consecutive years.
    Note: Not all Dividend Champions are Dividend Aristocrats because Dividend Aristocrats have additional requirements like being in The S&P 500.
  • The Dividend Contenders List: 10-24 consecutive years of dividend increases.
  • The Dividend Challengers List: 5-9 consecutive years of dividend increases.
  • The Best DRIP Stocks: The top 15 Dividend Aristocrats with no-fee dividend reinvestment plans.
  • The High ROIC Stocks List: The top 10 stocks with high returns on invested capital.
  • The High Beta Stocks List: The 100 stocks in the S&P 500 Index with the highest beta.
  • The Low Beta Stocks List: The 100 stocks in the S&P 500 Index with the lowest beta.
  • The Complete List of Russell 2000 Stocks
  • The Complete List of NASDAQ-100 Stocks