Empirical Finance LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,228 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 409 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KMB. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 36,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,380,000 after buying an additional 3,939 shares during the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 3,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,529,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 69,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,480,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.4 %

KMB stock opened at $141.53 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $116.32 and a 1-year high of $142.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market capitalization of $47.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.02, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.78.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.08 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.71%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total transaction of $61,398.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,324.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total transaction of $342,075.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,101,891.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total value of $61,398.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,324.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,395 shares of company stock valued at $3,332,776 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $115.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $167.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.36.

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.