Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Stock Position Lowered by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 372,520 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,945 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $53,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KMB. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,659,000 after acquiring an additional 636,882 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,443,000 after acquiring an additional 358,926 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,383,000 after acquiring an additional 354,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,360,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,040,000 after acquiring an additional 330,327 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on KMB. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. 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 boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note 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.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.4 %

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $46.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $138.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.21.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.