Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 64,483 shares of the company’s stock after selling 595 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $8,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2.2% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 19,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,658,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 44.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884 shares in the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 94.7% during the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 6,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $900,000 after purchasing an additional 3,169 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 6,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hoge Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC now owns 1,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $175.00 to $161.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.57.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock traded up $0.67 during trading on Monday, hitting $125.13. The stock had a trading volume of 952,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,742,686. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.40. The company has a market capitalization of $41.73 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.