F M Investments LLC Acquires 593 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

F M Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,182 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 593 shares during the period. F M Investments LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $582,592,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,141 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $127,436,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,444,000 after acquiring an additional 797,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $46.35 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $123.84 and a 1 year high of $150.45. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $138.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.72.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.26 dividend. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio 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.