Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,416,946 shares of the company’s stock after selling 667,235 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.72% of Kimberly-Clark worth $316,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.85.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $133.19 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The company has a market cap of $44.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $123.84 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.80.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. On average, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.75%.

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.