Core Wealth Partners LLC Raises Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Core Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 3.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,547 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the quarter. Core Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 926.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 210 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total transaction of $1,396,116.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,050.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total transaction of $1,396,116.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,050.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total value of $61,398.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,324.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,395 shares of company stock valued at $3,332,776 in the last three months. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB stock traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $137.52. The stock had a trading volume of 736,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,989,649. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05. The company has a market cap of $46.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $116.32 and a 52-week high of $142.20.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.71%.

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.