N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC Cuts Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC cut its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 17.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,729 shares of the company’s stock after selling 587 shares during the quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.8% during the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 289,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,062,000 after purchasing an additional 2,280 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 54.9% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 411,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,704,000 after purchasing an additional 145,915 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 5,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.6% in the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 9.0% in the second quarter. Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total transaction of $5,331,392.58. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,819,207.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total value of $250,695.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,038,976.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 19,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $167.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $146.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $136.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Argus raised Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $148.05 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $141.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.85. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $116.32 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The company has a market capitalization of $49.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.39.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.25. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. The company had revenue of $5.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.71%.

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.