Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,809 shares of the company’s stock after selling 216 shares during the quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after buying an additional 6,016 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,267,000 after acquiring an additional 273,813 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,409,000 after purchasing an additional 21,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

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 $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on KMB. Citigroup lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB opened at $132.79 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.51. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $117.93 and a 52-week high of $149.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The company has a market capitalization of $44.28 billion, a PE ratio of 17.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.41.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.