LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Cuts Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,344 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,025 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zhang Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 2,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 14,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% in the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 988,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,506,000 after acquiring an additional 576,610 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.5 %

KMB opened at $127.33 on Monday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $42.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $132.41 and its 200 day moving average is $137.98.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KMB shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.71.

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.