Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 951,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $124,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 6,016 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,267,000 after buying an additional 273,813 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the period. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20,377.6% during the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 33,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,428,000 after buying an additional 33,623 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $140.07 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $123.02 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $46.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid 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 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.