Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 116,554 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,285,180 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 116,554 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $299,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after buying an additional 4,603,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,387,709,000 after purchasing an additional 529,223 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,444,000 after purchasing an additional 797,953 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $582,592,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $142.68 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $47.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $124.10 and a 1 year high of $150.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $139.52 and its 200 day moving average is $135.68.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $357,420. The trade was a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays raised 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. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.31.

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.