Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Acquired by Global X Japan Co. Ltd.

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 29.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,902 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 899 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Keystone Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 90.0% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 12,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 6,100 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 40,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,331,000 after purchasing an additional 4,384 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 844,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,645,000 after buying an additional 26,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KMB. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup dropped 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 boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $128.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.90. 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 firm has a market cap of $42.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.41. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $117.67 and a 1-year high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. On average, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % 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 link. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.