United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC decreased its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 24,084 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,053 shares during the quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $3,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $582,592,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,868,000 after buying an additional 1,015,141 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth about $127,436,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,444,000 after acquiring an additional 797,953 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 2.1 %

KMB stock opened at $142.68 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $150.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $139.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.75.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid 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 dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $357,420. This trade represents a 49.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.