Capital World Investors Purchases 342,790 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Capital World Investors lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 17.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,269,492 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 342,790 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors owned 0.67% of Kimberly-Clark worth $293,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Inc. CA grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 20.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 8,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after acquiring an additional 1,441 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 50.6% in the 1st quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 40,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,298,000 after purchasing an additional 13,757 shares in the last quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 68,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,859,000 after purchasing an additional 4,925 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 25.0% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,667,000 after purchasing an additional 7,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.2% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,125,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $167.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $115.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of KMB traded up $0.74 on Friday, reaching $141.81. The stock had a trading volume of 2,064,513 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,201,267. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.85. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $116.32 and a 12-month high of $145.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.18.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.10 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.21 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 6,390 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.59, for a total transaction of $866,420.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,649 shares in the company, valued at $4,562,467.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total value of $5,331,392.58. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 6,390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.59, for a total value of $866,420.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,649 shares in the company, valued at $4,562,467.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 51,462 shares of company stock valued at $7,206,653. Corporate 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.