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Is Kimberly-Clark the Safest Dividend Stock You Can Buy Now?
Key Points
Kimberly-Clark has paid dividends for 92 consecutive years and has boosted its payouts for 54 consecutive years.
The company generated net income of $2.5 billion in 2024 and $2 billion in 2025 to support those payouts.
Integrating its recent acquisition of consumer health company Kenvue will be a challenge for the consumer goods giant.
There's nothing exciting about Kimberly-Clark's (NASDAQ: KMB) product portfolio. It makes stuff like Kleenex tissues and Cottonelle toilet paper. They're the type of household items that exist in the background -- we don't give much thought to them until they are needed, but consumers have little choice but to buy them.
That said, those boring products have created decades of reliable dividend payouts for shareholders. And no matter what happens with interest rates, elections, or the economy, Kimberly-Clark's products will remain in demand in the decades ahead.
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Dividend royalty
Companies that boost their dividend payouts annually for 50 or more consecutive years earn the title of Dividend King. Kimberly-Clark is in that elite group, having boosted its dividend payouts for 54 consecutive years and paying dividends for 92 consecutive years.
If that sounds impressive, it should. To go that long without occasionally running into the types of financial issues that lead to a pause on payout hikes demands a pretty sound business model. And that's exactly what Kimberly-Clark offers its shareholders: It doesn't just generate billions of dollars in sales, but also billions of dollars in profits year in and year out.
- Net income 2023: $1.7 billion.
- Net income 2024: $2.5 billion.
- Net income 2025: $2 billion.
There's a lot to like about the company, especially that its dividend at the current share price yields a hefty 4.7%. But it's also navigating a few challenges that investors should know about before considering adding it to their portfolio.
A new acquisition and a sales slump
On Nov. 2, Kimberly-Clark closed its acquisition of Kenvue -- formerly the consumer healthcare division of Johnson & Johnson, before its 2022 spinoff. While that brought a host of new names into Kimberly-Clark's portfolio, including well-known brands like Tylenol and Band-Aid, every acquisition comes with risks. Sometimes, those operations don't fold as neatly into their new parent company as expected.
Kimberly-Clark is also dealing with a sales slump. Its 2025 full-year sales of $16.4 billion were a 2.1% decline from the $16.8 billion reported in 2024.
Still, despite its challenges, thanks to its reliable dividend payment track record and continuous profitability, it's about as safe a dividend stock as there is to own.
Jack Delaney has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Kenvue. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.