Essex Financial Services Inc. Increases Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,489 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.64.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of KMB stock opened at $133.87 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $117.67 and a 12 month high of $149.30. The stock has a market cap of $44.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.60.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 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, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders 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. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 64.64%.

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.