Cetera Advisors LLC Acquires 62,929 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 422.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,837 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 62,929 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $10,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $437,420,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after purchasing an additional 944,920 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,926,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,114,000 after purchasing an additional 370,094 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 277.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 472,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,466,000 after purchasing an additional 347,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 69.2% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 779,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,793,000 after purchasing an additional 318,680 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total transaction of $250,695.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,038,976.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total transaction of $524,431.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total transaction of $250,695.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,038,976.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,312 shares of company stock valued at $6,106,519 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KMB. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $167.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $136.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $140.10 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $116.32 and a 52 week high of $145.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $47.19 billion, a PE ratio of 25.75, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $138.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $130.73.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 89.71%.

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.