Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by Inceptionr LLC

Inceptionr LLC cut its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 49.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,632 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,528 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. State Street Corp raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $127,436,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 988,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,506,000 after buying an additional 576,610 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1,427.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 589,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,284,000 after buying an additional 551,158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,387,709,000 after buying an additional 529,223 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on KMB. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of KMB stock opened at $144.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $48.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $132.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.46. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $123.02 and a 1-year high of $149.31.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. On average, analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.75%.

Kimberly-Clark 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.