Meeder Asset Management Inc. Acquires 96,334 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 298.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 128,560 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 96,334 shares during the quarter. Kimberly-Clark comprises 1.2% of Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $16,847,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 572,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,450,000 after purchasing an additional 17,919 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 140.6% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 433,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,665,000 after buying an additional 253,283 shares during the period. L.M. Kohn & Company acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter valued at $231,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter worth $5,616,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter worth $572,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of KMB opened at $140.73 on Monday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $123.84 and a 12 month high of $150.45. The stock has a market cap of $46.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $136.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

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.