Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by Sky Investment Group LLC

Sky Investment Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 40,680 shares of the company’s stock after selling 652 shares during the period. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $5,331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during 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 lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1,427.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 589,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,284,000 after acquiring an additional 551,158 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,625,000 after purchasing an additional 464,615 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $127.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.98. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $117.67 and a 52-week high of $149.30. The firm has a market cap of $42.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.71.

Kimberly-Clark 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.