Norinchukin Bank The Lowers Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Norinchukin Bank The reduced its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,762 shares of the company’s stock after selling 414 shares during the quarter. Norinchukin Bank The’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 4,603,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,387,709,000 after purchasing an additional 529,223 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 797,953 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $582,592,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, 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 Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE:KMB opened at $142.68 on Monday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $150.45. The company has a market capitalization of $47.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $139.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.68. 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 (NYSE:KMB) last announced 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 a boost 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 is currently 66.75%.

Kimberly-Clark 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.