New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $2.11 Million Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board decreased its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,093 shares of the company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KMB. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on KMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of KMB stock opened at $132.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $117.93 and a twelve month high of $149.30. The company has a market capitalization of $44.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.59, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.41.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.62% 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.