Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,017 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,575 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $3,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KMB. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 74.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,442,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,155 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 14.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,996,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,815,000 after acquiring an additional 641,187 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 31.4% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,197,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,530,000 after acquiring an additional 524,632 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 552.4% in the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 456,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,163,000 after acquiring an additional 386,497 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,671,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,740,000 after acquiring an additional 368,505 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on KMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $133.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.85.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.0 %

Kimberly-Clark stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $135.95. 2,614,132 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,224,297. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $128.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.62. The company has a market cap of $45.78 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $116.32 and a fifty-two week high of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.08 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total value of $342,075.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,891.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total transaction of $1,396,116.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,050.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total value of $342,075.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at $1,101,891.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,562 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,345 over the last 90 days. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.