Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Lowers Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 8.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,972 shares of the company’s stock after selling 888 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,409,000 after buying an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the second quarter valued at approximately $14,751,000. Swedbank AB increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,956,000 after buying an additional 6,392 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 25,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 107.8% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 12,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after buying an additional 6,293 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on KMB shares. Argus upgraded Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $134.08 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $117.67 and a twelve month high of $149.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.39, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.13.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.29%.

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.