Kestra Investment Management LLC Acquires 3,493 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 86.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,514 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,493 shares during the quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 61,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,178,000 after acquiring an additional 7,363 shares in the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 292,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,386,000 after acquiring an additional 4,688 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $591,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 106,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,949,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on KMB. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. TD Cowen downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $135.66 on Wednesday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $118.62 and a 1-year high of $149.30. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $129.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.49. The company has a market capitalization of $45.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.97, a PEG 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, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.64%.

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 transaction of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by 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.