Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Purchases 7,498 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,149 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,498 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $7,751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on KMB shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:KMB opened at $139.98 on Tuesday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $123.02 and a 52 week high of $150.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $133.81 and a 200 day moving average of $136.38. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $46.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its 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 net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.