West Tower Group LLC Acquires New Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $432,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of KMB. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 15.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 33,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,759,000 after buying an additional 4,426 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 17.0% in the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 21.7% in the third quarter. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. now owns 14,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,087,000 after purchasing an additional 2,617 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 9.0% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 51,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,294,000 after purchasing an additional 4,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 22.9% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 15,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,940 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price 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. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $139.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $46.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $134.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.34. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $123.02 and a one year high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.75%.

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.