Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 135,487 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,335,185 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 135,487 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.40% of Kimberly-Clark worth $174,799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,605,079,000 after acquiring an additional 4,603,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during 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 buying an additional 529,223 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,113,444,000 after acquiring an additional 797,953 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,141 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $582,592,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $137.87 on Wednesday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $124.10 and a 1 year high of $150.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.69. The firm has a market cap of $45.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.