South Dakota Investment Council Acquires Shares of 1,400 Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

South Dakota Investment Council bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $139.90 on Tuesday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $120.49 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The company has a market cap of $46.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.41. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released 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 net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. As a group, equities analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. 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.