California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 37,791 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,058,349 shares of the company’s stock after selling 37,791 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.61% of Kimberly-Clark worth $250,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Emerald Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1.5% in the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Motco lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.9% during the third quarter. Motco now owns 1,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Baxter Bros Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.3% during the third quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 3,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, S&CO Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.4% during the third quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 24,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,010,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total transaction of $450,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,084,709. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Kimberly-Clark news, Director Mark T. Smucker acquired 827 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $120.98 per share, with a total value of $100,050.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,050.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 17,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,084,709. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMB has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $119.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.85.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 5.5 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB traded up $7.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $136.05. 2,235,284 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,156,469. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94. The company has a market cap of $45.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $116.32 and a one year high of $147.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $124.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.43.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The firm had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 6.84 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 93.85%.

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.