Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Invests $6.49 Million in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 49,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,486,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KMB. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,267,000 after acquiring an additional 273,813 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20,377.6% during the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 33,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,428,000 after acquiring an additional 33,623 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KMB shares. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at $357,420. The trade was a 49.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB opened at $139.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $46.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.47, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $123.02 and a 1-year high of $150.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $134.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s 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.