Stephens Inc. AR Boosts Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 84.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 84,566 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,670 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $12,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 97,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,679 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 19,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,825,000 after acquiring an additional 837 shares during the last quarter. SkyOak Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter valued at $244,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Genus Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 329.0% in the 1st quarter. Genus Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,813,000 after acquiring an additional 89,031 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $129.38 on Monday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The company has a market cap of $42.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $134.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.74.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on KMB. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total value of $234,547.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $405,032.52. This represents a 36.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.