Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Acquired by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,839 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $4,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KMB. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,659,000 after purchasing an additional 636,882 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 662,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,278,000 after acquiring an additional 386,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,443,000 after acquiring an additional 358,926 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMB has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $133.11 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $117.67 and a twelve month high of $149.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $137.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.42. The stock has a market cap of $44.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value 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. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.