SPC Financial Inc. Raises Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

SPC Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,839 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after buying an additional 1,083,824 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its holdings 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 1,427.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 589,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,284,000 after purchasing an additional 551,158 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,387,709,000 after purchasing an additional 529,223 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% during 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. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $357,420. The trade was 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 hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on KMB shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of 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 cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB stock opened at $141.79 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $131.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $123.02 and a 12-month high of $149.31.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.75%.

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.