Crowley Wealth Management Inc. Invests $206,000 in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 624,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,894,000 after purchasing an additional 18,914 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at $33,912,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $681,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 299,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,267,000 after buying an additional 14,831 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $138.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $134.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.26. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $123.84 and a 52 week high of $150.45. The stock has a market cap of $45.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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, research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. The trade was 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. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.