King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 12,927 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lessened its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 872,884 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,927 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $124,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,409,000 after purchasing an additional 21,339 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the second quarter valued at $14,751,000. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,956,000 after purchasing an additional 6,392 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 25,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 107.8% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 12,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 6,293 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $136.37 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $117.67 and a 1-year high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus raised shares of Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

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.