Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Bought by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 86.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 509,585 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 236,733 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Kimberly-Clark worth $72,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Pacific Financial purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of KMB stock opened at $136.16 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $130.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.92. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $124.10 and a twelve month high of $150.45. The company has a market capitalization of $45.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.03, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.33. 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 (NYSE:KMB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.25. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on KMB shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.70.

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.