Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,666 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,223 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,956,000 after purchasing an additional 6,392 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 632.7% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,063 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,608,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.3 %

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $131.34 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $117.67 and a twelve month high of $149.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

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

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.