Eastern Bank Reduces Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. $KMB

Eastern Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,181 shares of the company’s stock after selling 706 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strong Tower Advisory Services grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 17,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,464 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 11,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,513,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 75.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 7,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 3,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 147.3% during the 2nd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 27,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,594,000 after buying an additional 16,602 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $119.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $128.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.05. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $119.36 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.25. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $149.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 Thursday, September 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.00.

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.