Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Cuts Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC trimmed its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,867 shares of the company’s stock after selling 95 shares during the quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 124,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,341,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $493,000. Williams & Novak LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $240,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $330,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IRON Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 5,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $758,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock traded up $0.76 on Wednesday, reaching $130.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 239,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,981,755. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $131.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.41. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30. 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 company has a market capitalization of $43.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.41.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. Analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Kimberly-Clark Profile

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.