Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys 10,024 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,542 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,024 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $9,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of KMB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after acquiring an additional 354,501 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,539,000 after purchasing an additional 503,839 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 32.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,360,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,040,000 after purchasing an additional 330,327 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.0% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,207,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,971,000 after purchasing an additional 23,788 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,070,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,919,000 after buying an additional 233,496 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $138.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $117.67 and a 52-week high of $149.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $138.72 and a 200 day moving average of $139.15.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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.