Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by Laurion Capital Management LP

Laurion Capital Management LP trimmed its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 40.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,263 shares during the period. Laurion Capital Management LP’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $5,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 797,953 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,529,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $986,616,000 after acquiring an additional 417,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,141 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction 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 $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total value of $95,978.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,872 shares of company stock valued at $2,208,684 over the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:KMB opened at $133.01 on Monday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $124.10 and a 1 year high of $150.45. The stock has a market cap of $44.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $137.87 and a 200-day moving average of $134.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

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.