Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 139,835 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,468 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $18,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% during the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 988,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,506,000 after acquiring an additional 576,610 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1,427.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 589,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,284,000 after acquiring an additional 551,158 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,625,000 after purchasing an additional 464,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 662,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,278,000 after purchasing an additional 386,510 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.3 %

KMB opened at $139.90 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $130.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $46.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.41. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $120.49 and a one year high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. Analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.75%.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Profile

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.