Heritage Trust Co Invests $732,000 in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Heritage Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $732,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 1,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC now owns 11,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at $357,420. This trade represents a 49.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE KMB opened at $139.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.51, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $138.39 and its 200-day moving average is $135.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $123.84 and a one year high of $150.45.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.26 dividend. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.