Van Strum & Towne Inc. Lowers Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Van Strum & Towne Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB – Free Report) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Van Strum & Towne Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 29,102,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,017,895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312,765 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,013,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $968,321,000 after buying an additional 300,529 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,660,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $917,368,000 after buying an additional 195,226 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,819,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,181,000 after buying an additional 613,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,449,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $614,254,000 after buying an additional 49,866 shares in the last quarter. 74.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $118.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $123.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $126.00 to $111.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.14.

Get Our Latest Report on KMB

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE KMB traded down $1.17 on Friday, reaching $122.26. 2,485,842 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,099,766. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $116.32 and a fifty-two week high of $147.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $121.88 and a 200 day moving average of $123.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 90.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $120.98 per share, with a total value of $100,050.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 827 shares in the company, valued at $100,050.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value of $450,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,084,709. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark T. Smucker acquired 827 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $120.98 per share, with a total value of $100,050.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,050.46. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

About Kimberly-Clark

(Free Report)

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products worldwide. 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.

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