Advisors Capital Management LLC Has $825,000 Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Advisors Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,293 shares of the company’s stock after selling 410 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on KMB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company’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 directly owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $142.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $138.67 and a 200-day moving average of $135.68.

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, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s 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.