BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Reduces Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 56,189 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,338 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $7,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of KMB. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:KMB opened at $139.35 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $46.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $138.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.30. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $117.67 and a 52 week high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.