Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Stock Position Reduced by Prosperity Consulting Group LLC

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC trimmed its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 18,258 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,186 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $582,592,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,142,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,786,000 after buying an additional 1,328,341 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,868,000 after buying an additional 1,015,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at $127,436,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of KMB stock opened at $131.58 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $124.10 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $357,420. The trade was a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

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.